Josiah and the purification of Israel
Introduction - Time Line
It is 700-600 years before Christ. In Britain the Iron Age is just starting, a couple of hundred years after the rest of Europe. In Israel the Kings have abandoned the God of their father Abraham, and are worshipping the Gods of the surrounding peoples. Israel is under the control of the Assyrian empire. In the middle of the century the Assyrian king is old and the empire is weak. Soon the Babylonians will take over the whole region, but when Josiah was king the Babylonians were only the subject of prophesies.
Year
(BCE) Age
References Details
640
8
2 Ch 34:1
Josiah is made king after the murder of his father Amon and the murder of the conspirators. Amon is counted in the top 5 worst kings of Israel. He had been king for 2 years. Manesseh, Josiah’s Grandfather was also a bad king, but at least humbled himself before God.
633-2
16
2 Ch 34:3
Josiah began to seek God
629-8
20
2 Ch 34:3
Begins the purge of Judah. The country is cleared of Idols and cultic practices. Covers the whole Assyrian province of Israel. All of Judah, the southern kingdom, and some of Israel, the Northern Kingdom.
626
Jeremiah begins to prophesy – destruction and desolation (caused by Amon)
629-6
Jer 6:22-24
Zeph 1:12
Scythian invaders (raiders) from the north cause instability in the region.
622-??
36
2 Ch 34:8-18
Starts repairs to the temple
The book of the Law is found
(Deuteronomy +other writings)
Passover party
609
2 Ch 35:20-24
2 Ki 23:29-30
Josiah picks a fight with Neco II of Egypt. The battle takes place at Esdraelon, and Josiah is mortally wounded.
Josiah - Situation and Story
As a Child
What must it have been like for Josiah to be made King at the age of only eight years. There would surely have been guardians to look after him, but we cannot tell who they were, or where they came from. No-one allows free reign to an eight year old.
Whoever they were they had done an excellent job of bringing him up. Josiah became known as one of the very best Kings Israel had ever seen. At the age of sixteen Josiah began to seek Yahweh. Our God is one who promises that those who seek him will find him. It was as true for Josiah as it is for us.
At the age of twenty Josiah was ready. Still only a young man, but by now his own man, he decided that it was time to act.
In human terms the time was right. The Assyrian overlords were weak, and their king was dying. They were distracted by attacks from the north. In Yahweh’s terms the time was right. So the purification of the nation of Israel began.
The Asherah poles were removed from the temple. An Asherah pole is the figure of the Goddess carved out of a tree trunk, or sometimes just a tree selected and dedicated to the Goddess. Imagine it, the objects of foreign Gods in the temple, it’s like having a carving of Shiva in the Cathedral at Canterbury. Its unthinkable to us, but it had been the case for generations in Israel.
There were worse things than carvings and alters to remove. There were also male prostitutes in the temple. They were part of the system of the worship of Asherah, and I have no intention of describing that.
Purifying the Nation
Josiah was not only concerned with purifying the temple, he wanted to purify the nation. Beyond the temple there were other practices he put and end to – including the practice of child sacrifice.
2Ki 23:10 He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
To be certain that there was no residue of worship for the gods Asherah and Baal, Josiah killed all their priests, and had their bones burnt. He smashed their alters and had the stone deposited where it was not worth retrieving. He ground up their carvings to powder so they could not be reconstructed or repaired. All evidence of the transgressions of the Israelites from previous generations were removed.
Of course Josiah didn’t travel around the country personally vandalising shrines and smashing alters. Most of the destruction was carried out by the High priest Hilkiah and his fellow priests.
Once the alters, prostitutes, pole and shrines had been removed Josiah set about repairing Solomon’s temple (the first temple). It had been allowed to decay and had not been looked after.
It took Josiah a long time to purify his country although the account in Chronicles doesn’t make that very obvious.
Rewards
There were rewards to be had. As part of the reconstruction of the temple the book of the law was found. Only at this point did Josiah realise just how far the Israelites had moved away from Yahweh. He tore his cloths as a sign of how he felt, and decided that the passover should be celebrated properly. What happened next makes Scrouge’s celebration of Christmas look pathetic. The passover was celebrated at the right time, and in a way that honoured God. The King personally provided many of the animals needed for sacrifice.
Much of the land was recovered – almost as much as David had.
Purity lead to a revival in Israel.
Purification
Purity is something we value. It is certainly one of the things that make people buy mineral water.
Water
Mineral water is probably one of the purest things you can buy.
Calcium 9
Magnesium 2
Potassium 2
Sodium 8
Bicarbonate 22
Chloride 11
Sulphate 8
Nitrate 5
Total 67
Dry Residue @ 180C 180
PH at source 6.4
Of course that’s just the mineral breakdown, it doesn’t tell you what else might be in the water to contaminate it. Only about one third of the dry residue is accounted for by the minerals (67 of 180). Many of the poor people of the world suffer because their water isn’t pure, its contaminated with disease or other biological matter. Many would argue that the water you get from your tap is purer, because the standards set for biological purity in this country are much higher for tap water than bottled water.
you cannot get pure water quickly. Wikipedia tells us that
In general the methods used include physical process such as filtration and sedimentation, biological processes such as slow sand filters or activated sludge, chemical process such as flocculation and chlorination and the use of electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet light.
Getting pure gold is even harder
To extract gold from pyrite compounds, they are sometimes treated in a proprietary chlorine process. The roasted pyrites are moistened with water and impregnated with chlorine gas. Gold chloride is then leached out with water, and the gold is precipitated by reduction with ferrous sulphate or solid charcoal. Bromine water is sometimes used instead of chlorine.
There are some very nasty Chemicals involved in that process, it is dirty and dangerous, but what it yields is amazing.
Getting pure people is harder still.
First of all the person has to want to be purified. As we have already seen purification is not a simple quick process. I hope we have also seen that it is worth all the trouble. It certainly was for Josiah and the Israelites. It is for us too – pure water is one of the most important things for living a healthy life.
A pure person in the Bible is often referred to by the expression ’pure heart’ meaning to us that the core of your personality – whatever makes you who you really are, is the part that is affected.
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Only once we like Josiah are truly seeking God will any purification be possible.
So, when you pray the prayer in Psalm 51:10, what is likely to happen?
Well, unless it becomes a regular prayer – so that it is something that you really want, then probably very little. If it is you prayer – the prayer you have inside for your life then little by little, and with some difficult struggles things will start to change.
Everyone Pure
Imagine for a moment that the whole of Christendom really prayed that prayer. That everyone wanted a pure heart. That everyone wanted to put Jesus first in their life. The personal relationship with Jesus was the first and foremost thing. That nobody who came to church and claimed to be a believer really came because their friends were there, or their job was there, or it got them away from their grumpy spouse for a couple of hours a week.
No, we all have our relationship with Jesus as our main motivation. That means when we get to church our conversation – that exiting buzz that occurs before the service – all of that will be about how we have struggled to do God’s work in the community of the people we meet every day. Or the astounding successes that God has given us.
We would all have a strong sense of justice and of love. We would all stop being in the slightest bit selfish. We would consider others greater than ourselves (Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ) We would all be prepared to help each other with our daily tasks. We would readily share the things we have. When we had borrowed something from someone else we would treat it as a prize possession and return it. And return it in a better state than it was when we borrowed it, because we would be concerned that the next person to borrow it had a good experience. Our change of attitude to each other would soon be noticed. People outside would talk about us, they would see how we are different.
Some of them will become infected with our ideas. Many more than usual will want to know what’s going on. They will come looking. Some will still reject Jesus, but most will be amazed at what He has done and the effect that it has, and they will be only too happy to join in.
It’s called revival, and it’s similar to what happened in Josiah’s time. If you want revival – and it’s there freely available, start with yourself.
Imagine the whole world following on.
If there are strikes they are so that others receive better pay
Care Workers and Missionaries are paid more than bankers
The Fair trade organisation is out of business – there is no unfair trade.
I could go on, but we need to look at how we get there.
So you want to be like Josiah
So you have prayed the prayer, and you do so every day. The holy spirit will begin to convict you of certain sins. I cannot tell you what the sins will be in your case, but I can give you an example in my life. Even during the preparation of this talk. There I was, sitting at my PC playing one of the facebook games. Not at all focussed on the task in hand. You see I’m quite competitive, and was trying to get a good score in before any of my friends. The competitive trait is what got me through training, so its not a bad thing. Anyway Jo said "you’re doing a lot on your sermon then" quite sarcastically. My reply was rather rude and doesn’t bear repeating. God has graciously used the situation – one that I shouldn’t have got myself into – to illustrate exactly what He is saying. When we are convicted of a sin (anything that takes our primary focus away from God is a sin), we must repent and turn from it. It must be removed from our lives completely, so that it does not have any further call on us. My score 2:
1.
overly competitive – remove the scores from the facebook feeds, so I’m not tempted to try to beat them so frequently.
2.
being rude – much harder to overcome, but also much rarer thankfully. Apologise, repent and move on.
Jesus said “if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” Matthew 18:9
Josiah crushed the idols, and burnt the priests bones – it sounds a bit extreme – but if you want to be sure that the sin does not return, it is the only thing to do. It is said of Josiah that no king tried harder to fulfil all the requirements of the law.
A Christian friend of mine once went through a book and blacked out all the offending phrases in the book. At the time I was stunned – it sounded very over the top -, but now I understand. If it was causing him to sin, then it must be removed – completely.
You wouldn’t drink water with only 95% of the Cholera removed would you?
You wouldn’t buy gold that was mixed with other metals, if you were expecting 24 carat gold, would you?
Little by little the purification proceeds for some of us it will be faster than for others. As we realise a sin or a temptation and struggle to overcome it we become closer to the Lord Jesus. The holy Spirit will graciously point out our sins and turn them to victories Something to give thanks for, and a launch pad to deal with next one. Our love for or brothers and sisters in Christ will increase and we are on the path to revival.
