JOSIAH WHO LOVED GOD

 

There is nothing that excites me more than coming across someone in scripture who loved the God of Israel. One such man was King Josiah of the Kingdom of Judah. You might have gathered by now that there weren’t many kings of Israel like him. He stole my heart the year I discovered him in the Old Testament.

Before we can appreciate Josiah, it’s imperative to look at his predecessors. Josiah’s grandfather was Manasseh who ascended the throne of Judah at the age of twelve. He reigned for fifty years and became the most loathed and cursed king in the history of Judah.

Manasseh exceeded the idolatry of his predecessors by adding a third form of worship: devotion to the heavenly bodies and constellations. Remnants of this worship are seen today in astrology (The Old Testament Student Manual Book 2 p 213). If you live by your horoscope, give this some thought…..

Not only did Manasseh exceed the idolatry of his forefathers, he defiled the temple and the whole country out of contempt for God and barbarously slew all the righteous Hebrew men, ‘ till Jerusalem was overflown with blood’ (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, bk 10, chap 3, par 3)

This evil king repented when he was in affliction, after the king of Assyria captured him and took him to Babylon. He pleaded with the Lord who had mercy on him and brought him back to Jerusalem. Upon his return Manasseh cleaned house by putting away all the idols out of the temple and the country but it was too little too late. Idolatry was so engrained in his people by then that they continued to worship in ‘high places’ and when his son Amon succeeded him, he returned the people to full blown idolatry again (2 Chronicles 33:10-22).  This is a perfect example of how much damage one man can do to a whole nation.

Enter Josiah. He was only eight years old when he began his 31 year reign. This was a man who as a child watched babies scarified to the god of fire, Moloch. A man who in adulthood became highly troubled by the spiritual decay of the kingdom he inherited. The  truth had been lost and the covenant between Israel and Jehovah forgotten…..until he set about repairing the temple and ‘the book of the law’ was found (2 Kings 22:8-11). Some historians have suggested this book was Deuteronomy and some have concluded it was the entire Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible written by Moses).

When the book of the law was read to Josiah,  he realized how far Israel had strayed from the one true and living God and in his grief he tore the clothes on his body (2 Kings 22:11). Josiah cleaned the land of idolatry even more scrupulously than Manasseh but he could not bring about a thorough conversion of the people. Chapter 23 of 2 Kings outlines his detailed efforts of cleansing the insidious practice of idol worship but he could not undo the damage his grandfather Manasseh had done. Not even by putting his people under the covenant could he uproot the deep inward apostasy of the people. (2 Kings 23:26)

History records there was no king like Josiah before or after him. That he loved the Lord with all his heart, his soul and with all his might (2 Kings 23:25).

This is the lesson we can learn from Josiah. No matter what family we come from, what our upbringing was like and who raised us, we still have a choice to forge our own path in the world. No habit, false belief, addiction or immoral behaviour of those around us has to have power over us. We are in charge of our own destiny and have the ability to say: ‘this ends with me’.

The God of Israel saw Josiah’s grief when he heard the book of the law and when he tore his clothing. He recognized his sincerely and his desire for obedience and his efforts to turn the tide. He promised him that he will be ‘gathered unto his fathers and into his grave in peace’ so that he will not see all the evil which He would bring upon Jerusalem to punish the people for their disobedience (2 Kings 22,19-20).  Josiah died at age 39 in the Valley of Megiddo at the hands of the king of Egypt (2 Kings 23:29). And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him (2 Chronicles 35:24)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art by AI)