“When Manasseh died he was buried in his own house and Amon his son became king. He was a wicked king and reigned only two years. He refused to humble himself as his father had done, but sacrificed unto the carved images which his father had made. It is said of him that he multiplied his trespasses. Then his servants conspired against him and slew him in his own house. But the people of the land had these servants put to death, and they made his son Josiah king.
Josiah was only eight years old when he became king and he reigned for thirty-one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah. It does not say who his counselor was, but we are told that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left. It was in the eighth year of his reign when he was sixteen, that he began to seek after the God of David his father. He was the last king who did so.
It was in the twelfth year of his reign that he began to remove the high places and the groves and the carved images. They broke them down in his presence and made dust of them, and strawed it on the graves of those who had sacrificed unto them. Not merely did he cast these things out, but he completely destroyed them. Then he burned the bones of the priests on these altars. So he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
Josiah’s reforms even carried him into the land of Israel, into the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon and Naphtali. He did not know when he started out that he was fulfilling a prophecy. We do not read of it here but it is recorded in 2 Kings 23. Two hundred and fifty years before, a prophet from Judah had been sent to Jeroboam, the first king over the ten tribes, who had made a golden calf and set up an altar there. The prophet foretold of a king, Josiah by name, who would come and burn the bones of the idolatrous priests upon that same altar. It was while Josiah was carrying out this very act that he spied an inscription on one of the graves and asked what that was. He was told that it was “the sepulcher of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done.”
This makes us think of the words of the Lord Jesus: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” Matt. 24:3535Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:35). At the time this prophecy was made, there seemed little likelihood that it would ever be fulfilled, for Jeroboam was a powerful king. But we see that it was fulfilled in the Lord’s own time. How many today treat the Word of God lightly as though it was but the word of man. But men will one day have to answer to God for the way they have treated His Word. We are reminded of what the Lord said in Matthew 7:24-2724Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7:24‑27): “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock.” The storms might beat against it but it stood firm for it was founded upon a rock. On the other hand, not to obey the Word of God was like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; when the storms beat against it, it fell and was destroyed. In reading the Word of God we need to remember that if we find ourselves in disobedience to it, we do well to heed what it has to say to us, so that we will not miss the Lord’s blessings which He has for us, and come under His judgments.
ML 01/04/1959