The Good Kings Of Judah Series

Questions to Consider

1. Do you think God changed His mind when Hezekiah prayed in 2 Kings 20:1-6?

2. Why do you think Passover had stopped being celebrated before Hezekiah’s day?

1. Jehoshaphat of Judah

2. The Lady Who Saved Christmas

3. The Fall of The Northern Kingdom

4. Hezekiah

5. Good King Josiah

He is the sixteenth king of the Southern Kingdom and remembers Judah only has 20 kings in total for the length of their nation. His father was so bad of a man that his servants murdered him (2 Kings 21:19-23). He rules from 640-609 BC and he begins ruling around eight years old. He is a godly man: “Before him there was no king like him, who 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, nor did any like him arise after him” (2 Kings 23:25).

He is listed in the genealogy of Jesus along with Hezekiah.

5.1 High Places

Hezekiah had the high places torn down where idol worship took place. Then his son, Manasseh, rebuilds the high places of Baal (2 Kings 21:3). The high places were essentially Canaanite worship centers that had been taken over by Israel.

Josiah says in effect, “I’ll see to this.”

Look at Josiah’s ingenious plan: “Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. 16 And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. 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 that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. 17 Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” 18 And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. 19 And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. 20 And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them” (2 Kings 23:15-20a).

If you visit the Holy Land today, you can visit the remains of Jeroboam’s site on Dan. It’s called Tel Dan and you it’s found in a nature reserve area when you go. The platform at that time was 60 feet long and 20 feet wide and had an altar in front of the steps. You can see an iron frame that outlines the altar located in the same place where Jeroboam placed his altar. You can still see the original steps for the altar.

It's years later and Josiah is at the very altar that the first evil king of the Northern Kingdom erected. Josiah removes the bones from the graves of the false priests and burns the bones on the altar. This desecrates the grave first of all and renders it useless. No more will you have one king build the altar and his son tear it down. Josiah ruins the false worship place of worship. Next, Josiah fulfills the predictions from the unnamed prophet (1 Kings 13:1-10). If you remember, King Jeroboam sought to stop the prophet but God paralyzed his arm and made the king change his tune quickly. It’s been 300 years since the prophet made his prediction and to honor this prophet, Josiah orders his bones to remain where they were