For earnest zeal in the work of God, and for steady perseverance therein, it would be difficult to find a man who could excel Josiah, king of Judah. From such a one we can all learn valuable lessons; also remembering the words of the Apostle in 2 Thessalonians 3:1313But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. (2 Thessalonians 3:13), “Brethren, be not weary in well-doing.” The work of Josiah was very different from that which has been entrusted to us today. We have not been charged by the Lord Jesus to go through the earth with axes and hammers and destroy every abominable thing that meets our eyes; our service is to proclaim the sweet story of God’s grace to a world of perishing sinners. We shall find, as we pursue our studies that Josiah did not limit himself to his own small kingdom, but went far beyond Judah’s boundaries in his zeal for God. What have we to say concerning the regions beyond the land of our birth? Beloved Christian reader, think of the many lands where Christ is scarcely named, where the need is desperate, where souls are passing into eternal darkness every hour. Why go over and over again ground which has been well traversed? Why not cultivate the pioneer spirit that was seen in the Apostle Paul? Why not sit down quietly before God, and ask Him what “the world” means in the familiar John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)? France, for example, is very near the shores of Britain. Popish superstition and atheism fill that fair land, but to what extent are the favored Christians of Britain exercised about the need of the French people?
The zeal of Josiah recalls to our mind another zealous king, Jehu, the son of Nimshi; but the contrast between the two men is very great. Each was a divine Commissioner for the work of destroying Baal-worship, and other horrible things which disgraced the land of Israel; but the motives of the two men differed considerably. With Josiah the Word of God was the governing factor. The reading of it in his ears laid bare before him the evil of many things by which he was surrounded, and it was as a man obedient to the Word that he set to work. But in Jehu we behold considerable fleshly activity, for personal ambition had a large place in his mind even when he was doing that which was right in the eyes of God. When he met his friend Jehonadab the son of Rechab, he said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah” (2 Kings 10:1616And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him ride in his chariot. (2 Kings 10:16)). True souls do not parade their good deeds thus. Men’s approval and admiration matters little to them (1 Cor. 4:33But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. (1 Corinthians 4:3)); it is enough that the Lord sees their zeal in His service. Note the Lord’s words in Matthew 6:1-41Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. (Matthew 6:1‑4). Jehu’s heart was never right with God. But worship had been re-introduced amongst the people after Elijah’s departure. Jehu, by divine command, destroyed it utterly, but he “took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin” (2 Kings 10:3131But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. (2 Kings 10:31)). He maintained and worshipped the golden calves! Such glaring inconsistency is a warning to us. It is possible to denounce sternly certain evils in ourselves and others, and yet tolerate other things equally serious in the eyes of God. How treacherous is flesh! “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:1616This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)). Let us seek to be whole-heartedly obedient to the will of God in all our ways, after the pattern of Him who said, “I do always those things that please Him” (John 8:2929And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. (John 8:29)).
The reader is aware that the Holy Spirit has given us two accounts of Josiah’s reign. As we compare them with each other, certain differences are observable. In the “Chronicles” prominence is given to the notable Passover which Josiah held in Jerusalem, while in “Kings” it is mentioned quite briefly; but his energetic purging of the land from its idolatries from Dan to Beersheba is dealt with at great length in “Kings,” and is barely noticed in “Chronicles.”
To 2 Kings 23 then we turn for our present purpose. We have noticed already that Josiah purged the temple before he repaired it (2 Chron. 34:88Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. (2 Chronicles 34:8)), yet we read in 2 Kings 23:44And 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 carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el. (2 Kings 23:4), “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 Jehovah all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the lost of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.” This appalling list of abominations still in the house where Jehovah had set His name suggests that the first purging was not very thorough; but the second purging cleared every vile thing out. But why was the second purging more thorough than the first? Because the Book of the law had come to light between the two movements, and the hideousness of things which had long been tolerated was now perceived, at least by the king. He now had divine understanding to keep the law, and he sought to observe it with his whole heart (Psa. 119:3434Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. (Psalm 119:34)). Josiah could have said with David “Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined mine heart to perform Thy statutes alway, even unto the end” (Psa. 119:111-112111Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart. 112I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end. (Psalm 119:111‑112)). Energetic action must needs follow when the heart is thus going out towards God and His Word. “I made haste, and delayed not to keep Thy commandments” (Psa. 119:6060I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. (Psalm 119:60)). It may be that some believers today continue in unscriptural associations because the Word of God has not been set before them concerning these things. Evil is none the less evil because, through inattention to the teaching of scripture, its true character is not perceived; but when once the Word is brought to bear, God expects prompt action from His saints. Leviticus 5 lays down this principle clearly.
The task which Josiah undertook in faith was colossal, and he gave himself no rest until he had destroyed every vestige of idolatry out of the whole land of Israel, although he was only ruler over Judah and Benjamin. Jerusalem—Jehovah’s chosen center—was first cleared. It is specially noted that “he brought out the grove from the house of Jehovah without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burnt 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” (2 Kings 23:66And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, 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. (2 Kings 23:6)). “The grove” appears to have been an image of Astarte. Imagine such a horror being set up in the house of Jehovah, concerning which He once said that His eyes and His heart would be there perpetually (2 Chron. 7:1616For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. (2 Chronicles 7:16))! Adjoining the temple were the house of the Sodomites! Horror upon horror; how low Israel had fallen that such bestiality should be found in the most sacred spot on earth! The history of Christendom has been quite as fearful. One writer has said that its annals are “the annals of Hell.” Idolatry, blasphemy, immorality, and cruel persecution of the godly all practiced by men who, with high-sounding ecclesiastical titles, claimed to be the successors of the Apostles, and the only authoritative ministers of the Word of God and the sacraments!
In the Spirit’s record of Josiah’s activities special mention is made of the accumulation of abominations which his predecessors of David’s royal line had set up in and near Jerusalem. “He took away the horses that the Kings of Judah had given to the sun; at the entering in of the house of Jehovah.... and the altars that were on the top of 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 Jehovah, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron” (2 Kings 23:11-1211And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12And the altars that were on the top of 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, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. (2 Kings 23:11‑12)). But still worse! We wonder not at the enormities of such men as Ahaz and Manasseh, but one of the greatest of Israel’s royal transgressors was Solomon, the man who built the temple of Jehovah, and whose prayer at the dedication thereof seemed to anticipate every evil and danger that might arise! His wide range of monstrosities are set before us. “The high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the King of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites; and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the King defile” yet all this was left untouched by such pious Kings as Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah! Neglect of the Word of God is the only possible explanation of this. Our own experience of Christians around us proves that pious persons are not necessarily painstaking students of Holy Scripture.
Before Israel entered the land, Jehovah enacted that when the time came for the people to have a king, “it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites; and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the Words of the law and these statutes, to do them: that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel” (Deut. 17:18-2018And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: 19And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: 20That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:18‑20)). If each successive ruler in Israel had obeyed this injunction, and had prepared his own copy of the law, and had read therein all the days of his life, the formidable array of devilries with which Josiah had to deal would never have existed. Nor would the original of God’s holy law have become buried under rubbish, so that the finding of it was a real discovery.
Neglect of the Word of God is an evil more serious, and more disastrous in its results, than is generally realized. Things are tolerated in ourselves, and also adopted without question from our fathers, which would be judged and abandoned if we were more familiar with the Scriptures, and if the Scriptures had supreme authority over our souls. The growing habit of reading a short “Union” portion, with a few comments from persons not too well instructed in the mind of God must not be confounded with Bible study. The latter involves careful examination of every book in the Bible (not mere portions selected for us by others), seeking enlightenment from the Holy Spirit as to the scope of each book, and also as to the relation of each book to every other, for the Holy Scriptures are an organic whole. Thus we are led into the counsels of grace and glory, earthly and heavenly, which our all-wise God has placed in the sacred volume for our instruction and delight.
In his great work for God, Josiah dealt with what some might regard as a small evil compared with the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth. We refer to the high places for religious purposes which seemed to abound in Jehovah’s land. It was apparently the custom of the Canaanitish nations to establish places of worship for their false gods on various heights which they selected according to their own Satan-controlled desires. Deuteronomy 12 should be carefully examined by the readers of these pages. Jehovah told His people of the ways of the heathen and forbad them to imitate them. The Word must alone govern them in all matters relative to divine worship, as indeed in everything else. Jehovah would choose His own center, and thither His people must come with their burnt-offerings and sacrifices. The Israelites were to destroy all the high places of the heathen, and thus express their abhorrence of their wicked ways. But flesh is no better in those who are near to God than in those who are far from Him. The time soon came, alas, when Israel chose high places for themselves. Some of these were idolatrous worship, and some for the worship of Jehovah. But all the high places, whatever might be the motives of use who established them, were offensive in His sight, for they were the expression of creative self-will, of hearts not subject to His commandments. Some of Judah’s choicest kings tolerated high places, not those which were dedicated to idols, we may be sure, but those at which Jehovah was professedly worshipped. This weakness is specially recorded of Jothan (2 Kings 15:3535Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the Lord. (2 Kings 15:35)), Asa (2 Chron. 15:1717But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. (2 Chronicles 15:17)), and Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:3333Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers. (2 Chronicles 20:33)). Asa’s doings were strange indeed in their inconsistency. He deposed the queen-mother from her exalted station because of her idolatrous practices, and he utterly destroyed her works, yet the high places of the people were allowed to remain (2 Chron. 15:16-1716And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. 17But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. (2 Chronicles 15:16‑17)). When shall we learn that God expects obedience in all things from the souls that He has redeemed?
The energetic Josiah cleared away all the high places, and he brought away from them all priests who had burned incense upon them, but in view of their disobedience to the Word of Jehovah they were not allowed to exercise priestly functions in Jerusalem. “The priests of the high places came not up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren” (2 Kings 23:8-98And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city. 9Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren. (2 Kings 23:8‑9)). Even unfaithful men must not be left to starve! Shall we not learn from all this that God expects His Word to be obeyed by His people? Is every reader of these pages able to quote “chapter and verse” concerning his religious exercises? Or is it possible that some choose for themselves where and how they will worship and serve their God? Josiah has left us a fine example. When the long neglected law of Jehovah was brought before him, he was determined to carry out all that was written therein. Never was the written Word more respected than by Josiah, and never was Jehovah’s land and sanctuary more thoroughly purified of everything that was contrary to His will. How pleasant to God!