2 Kings 23: 1 – 37
Getting it right
23 Now the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. 2 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. 3 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren. 10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech. 11 Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 The altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron. 13 Then the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon. 14 And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images and filled their places with the bones of men. 15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image. 16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. 17 Then he said, “What gravestone is this that I see?” So, the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.” 18 And he said, “Let him alone; let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. 19 Now Josiah also took away all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel. 20 He executed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem. 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.” 22 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. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the LORD in Jerusalem. 24 Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. 25 Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him. 26 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. 27 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.’ ” 28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 29 In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo when he confronted him. 30 Then his servants moved his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place. 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 Then Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there. 35 So Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give money according to the command of Pharaoh; he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
Today’s topic is ‘Getting it right.’ The term means to do, say, or understand (something) accurately or correctly such as when you're making a measurement.
For example: ‘Let me get this right: you want me to lend you $1,000?!’ Or I would like to rephrase the response as, ‘are you out of your mind?’
The process of assessing risk is simple and follows a logical routine of; Identifying hazards, identifying who may be harmed and how, evaluating the risk and implementing controls, monitoring and reviewing the situation and adapting to change.
Routine low risk activities are typically covered by simple qualitative risk assessments. Usually completed by one competent person this considers an assessment of the overall risk by taking an objective view of the task, identifying relevant hazards and implementing suitable and enough controls to make it safe.
Out of all the kings of Judah who descended from king David, the one who closely was like him was Josiah. We have found in our previous study that after 350 years the Israelites found a ‘time capsule’ of scripture that indicated the consequences of not obeying Yahweh. When the text was read the king tore his clothes and with all his being set to make things right between the Israelites and our Great and Mighty Holy God Yahweh. In total effect he wanted to get things right. He cleaned house of all the pollutions of pagan rituals and sites. Let see what he did.
On receiving Huldah's response Josiah called together the elders of the people, and then therefore summoned to the house of YHWH the whole assembly of Judah from greatest to least, including priests and prophets.
The purpose of this was to ‘make a covenant before YHWH’, in a similar way to Moses in Exodus 20-24, and Joshua in Joshua 8.30-35; 24.
The king then solemnly committed himself by covenant to observe, in its entirety from the heart, ‘all that is written in this book’, and this is later described in verse 25 as ‘all the Law of Moses’. Verse 25 then goes on to explain that Josiah not only promised it but did in fact fulfil his covenant. He was not to be someone who said and did not do. This solemn commitment is then followed by a description of the ritual destruction of all the last traces of false worship which still remained in the Temple, namely the vessels that had been used in the worship of Baal and the Asherah.
The long list of Josiah’s reforms emphasizes how far Judah had sunk into ‘abominations’ of many kinds and does serve to demonstrate that, apart from a small remnant, it had outwardly become almost as pagan as the nation’s round about. Church history reveals how the same thing happened to the church. In both cases it was only due to the grace of God and the faithful remnant of His people who remained true that the truth was preserved. The list makes crystal clear that the palace, the Temple and the worship of the ordinary people had all been deeply affected. On the other hand, the fact that the reforms were at least successful for the remainder of his reign indicates how much support they had among many of the common people. In their hearts many had still yearned after YHWH.
These reforms having been described we are then brought back to the covenant ceremony when the king called for a solemn observance of the Passover in accordance with ‘this book of the covenant’, something which duly occurred within the year in a way that exceeded all previous Passover celebrations, and was accompanied by the ridding of the land of all who practiced the occult and idolatry.
23 Now the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him.
Deeply moved by the words of Huldah the prophetess the king sent and gathered to him ‘all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem’. This was preparatory to calling the whole congregation of Judah together. Verse 21 would suggest that Passover was approaching, and the opportunity was to be taken to combine that in some way with a covenant ceremony in which a covenant would be made before YHWH, and the words of the book of the covenant would be read out.
Please take note the distinction between the elders of Jerusalem and the elders of Judah. As the city of David Jerusalem was administratively separate from Judah. In Jerusalem the king had direct authority and could act as he wished, in Judah he had to consider local custom and respect the authority of the elders of Judah, the princes and the tribal aristocrats.
2 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.
All the men of Judah having arrived in Jerusalem in response to the summons of their elders, the king went up to the house of YHWH. And with him went all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, together with the priests and the prophets, ‘and all the people both small and great’, for a great covenant ceremony.
3 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.
Then the king stood by the royal pillar, a pillar which by tradition related to the Davidic house. This may have been one of the two pillars erected by Solomon (1 Kings 7.15), or some other special pillar in the Temple recognized by custom as the king’s pillar. It was where kings stood to make official decrees, and there he made a covenant ‘before YHWH’ (before the Sanctuary and as in His presence) to walk after YHWH and to keep His commandments, and testimonies, and statutes, as they had come down to them from the past in the Law of Moses He thereby firmly confirmed the covenant that was found in ‘this book’, and the people then themselves confirmed their part in it. To ‘stand to the covenant’ was probably recognized legal jargon indicating full acceptance and commitment.
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.
As a ritual seal on the covenant the leading priests (Jeremiah 52.24) were then called on to bring out all the vessels within the Temple that had been used in false worship so that they could be burned outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, after which their ashes were carried to Bethel to be disposed of, probably in order to defile the altar set up by Jeroboam I (1 Kings 13.2). Whether Bethel was under Josiah’s jurisdiction currently (which it probably was) is irrelevant. All that mattered was that they had access to it.
That it was only the vessels which were brought out at this stage emphasizes the fact that all the more obnoxious symbols of idolatry must have been removed already, otherwise they would have been the first to be brought out. It suggests that the vessels were the last thing to remain, probably kept on one side for some suitable time when they could be used to express an aversion for idolatry. It is to be seen as a full description of all Josiah’s reforms, some of which had already taken place, but placed between the making of the covenant and its sealing at the Passover so as to bring out that even the earlier reforms had been in accordance with the covenant and the Law.
Kidron was the place where Asa had previously burned defiling effigies (1 Kings 15.13), and was clearly a place marked down for such activity, being already defiled by what Asa had done. Importantly it was outside Jerusalem so that Jerusalem would not be defiled by the activity.
What is now described would have commenced well before Josiah’s eighteenth year as the Temple was purified preparatory to its being repaired and restored, and it would have continued throughout his reign as he was able to establish his rule further and further because of the waning power of Assyria and his own growth in political power. It is thus a summary of the whole process of his reforms carried out throughout Judah and Samaria, not just a description of what he did in his eighteenth year. The fact that Josiah had made Judah strong, independent, and prosperous, and had then extended his rule throughout Samaria with similar consequences, was seen as Yahweh’s blessing on his life and reign.
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.
One of Josiah’s first reforms had been to rid Judah of all the false priests appointed by previous kings to serve at the idolatrous high places. These priests were not of the tribe of Levi (seen in the fact that they were not permitted to return to Jerusalem) and had burned incense in the false sanctuaries to Baal, and the sun, and the moon, and the planets, and all the host of heaven. Now they were being ‘put down’ to prevent worship at these high places.
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.
Around the same time the Asherah image (or pole) that had been set up in the house of YHWH by previous kings (Manasseh and Amon), was brought out from the Temple and burned in the Brook Kidron, outside Jerusalem. Then it was beaten to dust (as with the golden calf in Exodus 32.20), and that dust was thrown onto the graveyard used for burying the common people (Jeremiah 26.23), who did not have their own family sepulchers. This would be to defile it by contact with ground containing the dead, and in order to reveal that the Asherah herself was ‘dead’.
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.
He also broke down the houses of the cult prostitutes (both male and female) which had been set up in the house of YHWH, to support the degraded worship of Canaanite gods and was where women had woven hangings for the Asherah. The hangings may have been paraphernalia hung from the Asherah images, or robes for the Asherah priests, or cords to be placed round the heads of cult prostitutes.
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.
These priests were genuinely of the tribe of Levi but had engaged in false worship at pagan high places. Their major crime was of ‘burning incense’ to false gods. This was a direct repudiation of YHWH to Whom alone incense of a special kind could be burned. Their high places where they had burned incense were defiled throughout the whole of Judah, from north (Geba) to south Beersheba). He seemingly at this stage had no authority over the priests outside Judah.
He also broke down the high places set up at the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city. We have no other information about these high places.
9 Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.
The Levitical priest of the high places themselves were not left without sustenance, for although they were not allowed to officiate at the Temple in Jerusalem, presumably because of their previous heretical activity), they were allowed to partake of the unleavened bread (or ‘priestly food’) allocated to the priests.
10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
Josiah also defiled ‘Topheth’. ‘Topheth’ means ‘fireplace’ or ‘hearth’ (the vowels deliberately connect the name with the Hebrew word for ‘shame (bosheth)). This was seemingly a sophisticated and gruesome set-up, either erected or dug in the ground, which was established in the Valley of Hinnom (Joshua 18.16) for sacrificing children to Molech. The valley of Hinnom would later become Jerusalem’s rubbish dump.
11 Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
These are not real horses these are model horses and chariots for the sun that had been erected by the kings of Judah within the Temple area. Models of such horses, some with solar discs on their foreheads, have been found in various excavations. All bear witness to the cult of the sun described here, while an Assyrian title for the sun god was ‘chariot rider’. Similar sun worship in the Temple is attested in Ezekiel 8.16. The horses were removed from the Temple and the chariots burned with fire. This would be a clear indication that Assyria had been once and for all repudiated, as Assur, the chief god of Assyria, was the sun god and had no doubt been associated with these chariots and horses.
12 The altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron.
Altars, probably to the sun, but no doubt also honoring other sky gods, had been erected ‘on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz’, a sanctuary possibly built on the roof of the palace. Roof sanctuaries were especially suited for worshipping astral gods. These altars were broken down, along with the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of YHWH for the worship of all the host of heaven. These also were beaten down, and their dust cast into the Brook Kidron.
13 Then the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon.
These idolatrous high places were built on the mountain to the east of Jerusalem (1 Kings 11.7) to the right of the Mount of the Destroyer or Corruption (either a section of the Mount of Olives, or a play on words between mashchith (destroyer) and mashchah (oil)). They were built by Solomon for his wives and may well have been maintained since then to service the foreign treaty wives of later kings. Now at last Josiah defiled them, rendering them unusable. There would be no more such worship within the vicinity of Jerusalem.
Ashtoreth was the Phoenician (Canaanite) mother goddess connected with fertility, love and war. Chemosh was the national god of Moab. The name Milcom is the same as Molech (Melech), the fierce national god of the equally fierce, half-wild Ammonites, but also worshipped throughout the area of Palestine, and even beyond.
14 And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images and filled their places with the bones of men.
Having defiled the high places, he also broke in pieces the pillars which represented Baal, and cut down the Asherah images, defiling their sites with dead men’s bones.
15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder and burned the wooden image.
By this time, probably some years after the eighteenth year of his reign, Josiah’s reforms were reaching beyond Judah. This was because Assyrian control over the province of Samaria had become non-existent because of the fact that they were engaged in their death struggles elsewhere (Nineveh was finally destroyed in 612 BC by the triumphant Babylonians, Medes and Scythians). Meanwhile Josiah appears to have been extending his rule over large parts of Samaria, filling the vacuum left by the Assyrians. In consequence he was able to purify Bethel, by destroying and defiling the altar and high place which Jeroboam I had set up there (1 Kings 12.29-33). The altar and high place were broken down, burned and smashed to pieces. The accompanying Asherah image was also burned.
16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.
As Josiah turned about, having given instructions concerning the destruction of the altar and high place, he spotted the tombs in the mountain, and the result was that he ordered that the bones be brought from them and burned on the altar as part of the process of defilement and destruction. This, as the author points out, was in accordance with what YHWH had declared through the man of God who had proclaimed these things in the time of Jeroboam (1 Kings 13.2). What YHWH had said, He now performed.
17 Then he said, “What gravestone is this that I see?” So, the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.”
Then he spotted a gravestone and asked what it was. And he was told by the men of the city that it marked the sepulcher of the man of God who had come from Judah and prophesied what Josiah had now done, which is one reason why his sepulcher is given such prominence here. It was present proof of the faithfulness of YHWH to His promises.
18 And he said, “Let him alone; let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.
Josiah immediately declared that his bones must not be touched. They were not to be used like the other bones had been as a method for defiling the altar and high place in Bethel. Rather they were to be left in peace, along also with the bones of the old prophet of Samaria.
19 Now Josiah also took away all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had done in Bethel.
Josiah then went throughout all the cities of the region of Samaria, destroying all the sanctuaries with their accompanying ‘high places’ (high altars reached by steps) which had so provoked YHWH to anger. He treated them in the same way as he had the altar and high place in Bethel. This was an indication of the extent to which his kingdom now reached.
20 He executed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
Josiah slew all the priests who had been involved with sacrificing and offering incense at the high places, and he did it on the altars of the high places, and also burned men’s bones on them in order to defile them further. The ashes of the dead would prevent anyone in those days from ever seeing them as sacred again. They were to be religiously defiled beyond repair. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
The making of the new covenant following the reading of the Law was then followed by an observance of the Passover. It was to do with the magnificence of the offerings, and the genuineness of the worshippers, which were seen as paralleling the celebrations in the days of Moses and Joshua.
The feast of the Passover, which celebrated the deliverance from Egypt, would have been a very appropriate feast for celebrating the new deliverance from Assyria which was now being enjoyed and celebrated as the chains of Assyria were being flung off by the removal of all that was connected with the worship of Assyrian gods. No wonder that it was celebrated with such fervor.
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.”
The making of the covenant following the full reading of the Law was now to be brought into effect ritually by the observance of the Feast of the Passover and Unleavened Bread ‘to YHWH your God’, the feast which especially celebrated the deliverance from Egypt. It now celebrated their equally important deliverance from Assyria. Passover was thus to be a part of their rededication of themselves to YHWH. And it was to be observed ‘as it is written in this Book of the Covenant’. It was to be a return to the old ways. Passover may well have been neglected in the days of Manasseh and Amon, and even prior to Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30.5) but now it was to be restored in all its glory.
22 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.
This celebration exceeded all previous Passovers since the time of the Judges in its magnificence, and in the purity with which it was observed. It was taking ‘Israel’ back to the glory days of Moses and Joshua themselves. And that required following the directions found in Numbers 28.16-25, which had possibly been neglected. It restored them to the purity of their beginnings.
23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the LORD in Jerusalem.
This Passover was observed to YHWH in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, sealing the new re-establishment of the covenant in.
Even though with all his enthusiasm and godliness Josiah could only reform the false worship of Yahweh and demonstrate his own zeal and love for YHWH. What he could not do was force the people to follow his example in their hearts. The sins of Manasseh had brought out how willing the people had been to follow him in the path of idolatry. They had demonstrated what the people of Judah had really become despite God’s amazing deliverance in the time of Hezekiah.
Verse 24 sums up and puts the cap on the reformation and includes the new element of the removal of all that related to the occult. From now on men would seek to YHWH only. The whole land was being swept clean, and it was in confirmation of the law which was written in the book which Hilkiah, the Priest, had found in the house of YHWH. For of all the kings of Judah there was none, not even Hezekiah, who so fully followed the Law of Moses with all his heart and with all his soul. Hezekiah had been the ultimate when it came to trusting YHWH, but Josiah was the ultimate in obeying Him.
Nevertheless, Josiah’s obedience, like Hezekiah’s trust, while it averted YHWH’s wrath for a time, was not enough to totally remove that wrath, for Judah’s provocation was too great (and it is significant that just as Hezekiah’s trust had been seen to fail in his dealings with Babylon, so Josiah’s would be seen to fail in a similar way). It would not be until there came a Son of David whose trust and obedience was total that final deliverance for God’s people could come.
24 Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
Josiah’s cleansing of Judah went further than just the sites involving pagan ritual. It also included those who sought to parallel the prophets as obtainers of information from the ‘other world’ by engaging in the occult. Those who ‘had familiar spirits’ were mediums who claimed to consult the dead. The ‘wizards’ too claimed contact with the ‘other world’. The teraphim are associated with divination (Judges 17.5). All had idolatrous associations. So, these were removed along with all the other idols and abominations, and it was in order to ‘confirm the words of the Law’ which were written in the Book of the Law which had been discovered.
25 Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.
Because of his zealous activities to observe the Law in all its fullness Josiah is honored by God. How would you like to have our Holy Lord God think similarly of you?
26 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.
His activity was, however, too late to prevent God’s wrath being visited on Judah. Even his righteousness was not enough, and this was because Manasseh’s sin, and Judah’s sin, had been too great and was too firmly imbedded within the mental ways of Judah. It was not, of course, that YHWH would not have forgiven them had they truly repented. And had every king who followed Josiah behaved like he did then the outpouring of God’s wrath would certainly have been continually delayed. But the fact was that YHWH knew the truth about men’s hearts and was already aware of what Josiah’s sons would do, and what Judah would do. He was thus aware that within twenty-five short years all would be over.
In a sense we could say that Judah, as with Israel before them, had committed ‘the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit’. They had resisted YHWH for so long that resistance had become so ingrained within them that even the revival under Josiah was insufficient to stem the tide. Thus, although those who in the future would listen to the pleadings of Jeremiah would find salvation and hope in God, the majority of Judah would await only judgment and darkness. The truth is that God is very patient and allows His light to burn on for so long, but if it is not finally heeded eventually He allows it to die out.
27 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.’
YHWH’s verdict on Judah was now pronounced. His warning was that He would remove Judah out of His sight in the same way as He had removed Israel out of His sight. And this would even be true of the city and the Temple that, for David’s sake, He had chosen (1 Kings 11.13), and of which He had said, ‘My Name will be there’ (1 Kings 8.16, 29). For within a few short years His prophet Ezekiel would visually witness His desertion of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 10.1-22).
Josiah’s glorious reign came to a sorry end when he made a fatal miscalculation without consulting YHWH. Assyria were by this time in dire straits after the sack of Nineveh and fighting for their very existence against the Babylonians, Medes and Scythians. The result of this was that Egypt decided in their own interests to aid Assyria’s survival in order that they might act as a barrier between Egypt and the aggressors, and to ensure their own control over the lands south of the Euphrates. They did not want a powerful Assyrian empire to be replaced by an equally powerful Babylonian one on their own doorstep. So, Pharaoh Necoh marched his troops northward to Assyria’s aid. But this meant that they passed through the plain of Esdraelon on Judah’s borders. We are given no reason why he made his decision, but we learn here that for some reason Josiah decided that he must prevent Egypt’s progress, evidently without consulting YHWH.
Josiah’s action was a sin against YHWH, especially in view of YHWH’s promise of peace in Josiah’s day. The result would be the death of Josiah at a time when Judah could least afford it, surrounded as it was by powerful nations combating each other. Furthermore, his decision to fight the Egyptians would give Egypt the excuse (if any were needed) to be the first to swallow up Judah.
28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 29 In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo when he confronted him.
Pharaoh Necoh was marching northward in order to assist the Assyrians in their rearguard action against the Babylonian/Medan alliance, no doubt with a view to ensuring Egypt’s control over the lands south of the Euphrates, and so as to ensure that the alliance did not become too powerful. No reason is given for Josiah’s action in opposing him, but it was either because he saw Egypt’s advance through the Plain of Esdraelon as a major threat to Judah’s future (which it may well have been), or because he was in alliance with the Babylonians and was acting on their behalf. Either way there is no suggestion that he consulted YHWH, although YHWH had promised peace in his day. The result was that he was wounded in the subsequent battle, and later died of his wounds.
30 Then his servants moved his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.
Josiah’s followers bore their mortally wounded king in a chariot from Megiddo and brought it to Jerusalem, and there he died and was buried in his own sepulcher. And the consequence was that ‘the people of the land’ anointed Jehoahaz as king. Jehoahaz was not the eldest son and may well have been chosen because of his anti-Egyptian attitude. The people of the land would not want to find themselves once again under Egyptian rule without a fight. Or it may simply be because he was more suitable than Jehoiakim who would later prove so disreputable.
As Huldah had forewarned the death of Josiah signaled the beginning of the end for Judah, and in fact within twenty-five years of his death (in 609 BC) Jerusalem would be no more. Jehoahaz, who succeeded him, only lasted three months before the inevitable Egyptian punitive invasion consequent on Josiah’s precipitate action resulted in his being taken into exile in Egypt, to be replaced by his brother Eliakim, who was renamed Jehoiakim as a sign that he was Pharaoh’s vassal. And yet even within that three-month period it is apparent that Josiah’s reforms had begun to collapse without Jehoahaz even lifting a hand to prevent it. The violent death of Josiah was seemingly seen as a signal to the worshipers of Baal that they could return to their old ways. Jehoahaz apparently approved of the moves, for the verdict delivered against him was that he had done evil in the eyes of YHWH. The truth was that the reforms had been mainly external and had not really changed the hearts of the people, who could not wait to backslide.
For a few years Jehoiakim ruled as a vassal of Egypt, who now for a while controlled the land south of the Euphrates, but Egypt’s control over this area was not to last for long, and it was eventually lost to the new rising power of Babylon under first Nabopolassar, and then his son Nebuchadnezzar. The result of Nebuchadnezzar’s advance was that Jerusalem was invested and taken, and several important people, including Daniel and his three friends, transported to Babylon ‘in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim King of Judah’ (Daniel 1.1). Jehoiakim himself became a vassal of Babylon (24.3), whilst Egypt retreated behind its own borders, and remained there unable to do anything about it (24.7).
Unfortunately, like his brother, Jehoiakim also ‘did evil in the sight of YHWH’, and whilst this might partly have been forced on him by Nebuchadnezzar, as he insisted on the gods of Babylon being introduced into the Temple, it was clearly seen as going beyond that. In line with what we have seen previously it indicated that he allowed the false high places to flourish again. Jeremiah tells us that Jehoiakim also ‘shed innocent blood’ like Manasseh (24.4), thereby demonstrating his total disregard for the Law of YHWH. This included the blood of Uriah the prophet (Jeremiah 26.23). The Chronicler further speaks of ‘his abominations which he did’ (2 Chronicles 36.8), a description which demonstrates his full participation in idolatry. Thus, he fully earned the description which was applied to him. All Josiah’s efforts were proving to have been in vain. Again, we see that idolatry had not been removed out of the hearts of the people.
The failure of Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Egypt in 601 BC, which resulted in heavy losses for both sides, meant that he had to retire back to Babylon to lick his wounds, and it was probably this that encouraged Jehoiakim to rebel, relying on Egypt for support. But Nebuchadnezzar’s reverse would only be temporary, and when he returned with his armies in greater force and besieged Jerusalem (Jeremiah 25.1-12) Jehoiakim was seemingly only saved from humiliation by his death, which may well have been at the hands of assassins who were seeking to appease Nebuchadnezzar. He was replaced by his eighteen-year-old son Jehoiachin who almost immediately surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar and was carried away to Babylon, along with many prominent people (including Ezekiel), being replaced by his uncle Mattaniah, who was given the throne name of Zedekiah. Jehoiachin was, however still seen as king, even though absent, with Zedekiah merely acting as his regent. Under such circumstances it would have required a much more charismatic man than Zedekiah to hold Judah together. But Judah was in decline and Zedekiah was unequal to the task and lacking in his response towards YHWH.
The destruction of Assyria had brought great relief to the world and been hailed by all as the end of an era, and Judah still could not reconcile itself to the idea that Babylon had taken over Assyria’s mantle. Who did Babylon think they were? Zedekiah therefore ruled over a people in constant ferment who felt that Babylon’s yoke could be overthrown, and he was encouraged in this by ‘false prophets’. This comes out very strongly in the prophecy of Jeremiah, where Jeremiah is seen as standing almost alone in warning that Babylon must not be opposed (Jeremiah 27.12 onwards). The final consequence was that Zedekiah foolishly rebelled, and the consequence was that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and took it, and later destroyed its walls and burned it to the ground, carrying the cream of the people away to Babylon. Jerusalem was no more. All that remained of Judah was a devastated country, devoid of its most prominent people, and ruled over from Mizpah by a governor, Gedaliah (25.22-23).
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign. Jehoahaz was his throne name. His birth name was Shallum (Jeremiah 22.11).
32 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
Even though his reign was short it was apparently sufficiently long enough to indicate the direction of his intentions. Josiah’s death, which they had no doubt hoped for, would have been a signal to the worshippers of Baal and Asherah that they could now make some attempt to restore Baalism, and it would appear that Jehoahaz raised no objection, and possibly even connived in it. It is clear from this that Josiah’s faith and obedience was not seen as reflected in the attitude of his sons. This may well have been because his multiple marriages resulted in the sons being more influenced by their less godly mothers.
33 Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
YHWH’s punished him for his apostasy, for when he was summoned to Riblah to meet with Pharaoh Necoh he was put in chains and carried off as a hostage to Egypt, no doubt as a guarantee of Judah’s good behavior, and as a lesson to Judah as to what happened to those who opposed Pharaoh. As the appointee chosen by Judah he was not to be allowed to reign. Pharaoh then put the land of Judah to a tribute of a hundred talents of silver, and one talent of gold, a considerable sum for a small country to have to find, although possibly not large enough to be seen as excessively punitive.
This Egyptian dominance of the area would in fact continue for some years, but it would end when Nebuchadnezzar advanced once more and Egypt was crushingly defeated by his forces at Carchemish, and then again at Hamath, thus having to fall back to its own borders where it did succeed in stemming the Babylonian advance.
34 Then Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there.
Pharaoh Necoh meanwhile made Eliakim, an older half-brother of Jehoahaz and a son of Josiah, king in his father’s place, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. This change of name may have been intended to indicate that Jehoiakim was now Pharaoh’s vassal, and that Pharaoh was his god. The introduction of the name of YHWH may have been cynical, indicating that YHWH should be submissive to Osiris and Horus (Pharaoh being seen as the personification of Horus and destined to be Osiris).
35 So Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give money according to the command of Pharaoh; he exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho.
Jehoiakim then set about gathering the tribute required by the Pharaoh by means of levying taxation on the people of the land ‘according to the commandment of Pharaoh’. The phrase is significant. It was no longer YHWH’s commandments that were being observed in Judah, but Pharaoh’s. As a result, each man in Judah was assessed, and was then called on to contribute in accordance with his ability to pay. It would appear from this that while the Temple had been restored it had few treasures in it of which it could be stripped.
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
Nothing good is said about Jehoiakim in either Kings or Chronicles, whilst Jeremiah portrays him as an oppressive and covetous ruler (Jeremiah 22.17) who presided over a period of religious decay during which the high places were restored. He also introduced hideous Egyptian rites and filled the land with violence (Ezekiel 8.5-17), capping it by murdering Uriah the prophet for opposing him (Jeremiah 26.20-23). Unlike his father, who had ruled justly and wisely, his thoughts were only for himself, and he built himself a palace without adequately paying his workforce (Jeremiah 22.13-16), thinking to aggrandize himself, but only thereby revealing his folly and that he had little regard for others
37 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
Jehoiakim continued to allow, and even approved of, the outbreak of Baalism that had begun during the short reign of Jehoahaz, on the death of Josiah. All that can be said of him is that he did evil in the sight of our Precious Holy Lord God.
