Having in this chapter arrived at the second great revival which took place in Judah’s last days, we shall find in it ample material for our own instruction. We have said with regard to Hezekiah that end time revivals are characterized by rupture with traditions, however hallowed by long usage some of these may be, and by a return to things that have been from the beginning. It goes without saying that apart from this special and powerful action of the Holy Spirit one encounters times when individual piety predominates and cuts off the idolatry then current, as seen in Joash, Amaziah, and Uzziah. Those who act with God are ever able thereby to exert an influence of blessing around themselves; but a remarkable thing in the ways of God is that in the measure in which evil increases and draws the world to its final judgment, so does the truth of God shine in brighter splendor and shed about it a more general influence that revives souls.
Under Josiah, as under Hezekiah, there is a resolute and complete rupture with ancient evil, long tolerated or established in Judah. Josiah’s faithfulness in this respect, so as it is reported to us in Kings, is altogether remarkable.
Josiah began to reign while still a small boy and consequently under the care of his mother, Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozcath, a woman of Judah (Josh. 15:3939Lachish, and Bozkath, and Eglon, (Joshua 15:39)). He walked, like Hezekiah, “in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand nor to the left” (2 Kings 22:22And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. (2 Kings 22:2)). The first thing we are told of him here is that he began by taking care of the Lord’s house, repairing its breaches, counting upon the faithfulness of those who were charged with this work. This is one of the distinctive signs of a revival in the last times. God’s house acquires an entirely new importance to believers, and its state of ruin draws out their solicitude. It ought to be so in the days that Christendom is passing through at present. The voice of the faithful ought to be heard, drawing the attention of God’s people to His house, the Assembly of the Living God, as being that object that is most dear to Christ’s heart. It is in no way a matter of freshly rebuilding the ruined temple but one of repairing its breaches, of faithfully bringing the necessary material, of adding to this building cedar wood and hewn stone pleasing to God who had built the house. Likewise at this time of the end the Christian who is conscious of his calling, instead of adding wood, hay, and stubble to the house, will bring to it that which is suitable to the house of God—living stones, hewn by the Holy Spirit, in the quarry of the world, cut by the Master, and capable ultimately of forming a part of the building of God. The revival in our times has comprehended this. For it, God’s Assembly exists, although this Assembly is in ruin; whereas it takes no account of those buildings that men call their churches and which are maintained by men. It is not to these buildings that Christ’s faithful witnesses will bring material, but to the Church of the Living God, and each is responsible to Him alone for the work which has been entrusted to him. “But no reckoning was made with them of the money that was given into their hand, because they dealt faithfully” (2 Kings 22:77Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. (2 Kings 22:7)).
This zeal for the house of God has an immediate and most important result: “And Hilkijah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah” (2 Kings 22:88And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. (2 Kings 22:8)). If Josiah had not had the restoration of the temple at heart, the book of the law, which was kept there (2 Chron. 34:1515And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. (2 Chronicles 34:15)) would not have come to light again. This is the special character of Josiah’s revival. Hezekiah had more especially shown confidence in the Lord accompanied — this goes without saying — by a real submission to the word of God which Isaiah the prophet bore, but under Josiah we find, as it were, a totally new revelation of the written Word, and in this particular case of the books of Moses. In this revival the Holy Scriptures, neglected and forgotten as it were during the preceding reigns, again suddenly occupy their place of importance. This was the great blessing attached to the revival called the Reformation. The Bible, brought out of obscurity through providential ways and presented to all, immediately shone forth with brightest splendor. Nevertheless, it is painful to see that the Reformation did not begin, as did Josiah, with a zeal for the house of God, but doubtless the importance of Christ’s Assembly was being reserved for a latter time and had not yet been manifested.
When zeal for the house and obedience to the Scriptures go together, these latter become as it were a totally new revelation. Things already known to be of God certainly do not lose their importance, but a light bursts forth that not only astonishes and impresses people as having been totally unknown until then, but that also touches consciences most deeply. “And it came to pass when the king heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his garments” (2 Kings 22:1111And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. (2 Kings 22:11)). Is it possible that the Word of God could have been violated in such a way by his people! Is it astonishing that the consequence of this has been their ruin?
And now who will interpret this Word for us? How are we to “inquire of Jehovah” regarding what we are to do, knowing that according to this Word we have incurred His displeasure? The prophet alone, the representative of the Spirit of Christ (1 Pet. 1:1111Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. (1 Peter 1:11)), can interpret it for us. Josiah does not turn to Shaphan the scribe for this, or even to Hilkijah the high priest; he seeks to be put into direct relationship with the Word. There were many prophets at the time of ungodly Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1010And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying, (2 Kings 21:10)). In Josiah’s time, in these days of revival but of profound weakness, we find a prophetess at Jerusalem. Not that prophets were lacking in Judah (2 Kings 23:22And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. (2 Kings 23:2)), but activity entrusted to a woman characterizes decline, just as with Deborah in the book of Judges. Like Deborah, Huldah, this servant of Jehovah, does not seek to exercise a public ministry like the false prophetesses of our days; she employs her gift in the sphere appointed her. Josiah’s servants come to her: “Now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter of the town” (2 Kings 22:1414So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her. (2 Kings 22:14)). Here we are far from an Isaiah whose ministry embraced the whole range of prophecy and whose presence characterized Hezekiah’s revival. But the Spirit of Christ speaks through this woman, to confirm “all the words of the book that the king of Judah hath read” (2 Kings 22:1616Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: (2 Kings 22:16)), and, at the same time to reassure Josiah as to his own future. God had respect to the king’s deep humiliation: “Because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before Jehovah, when thou heardest what I spoke against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and curse, and didst rend thy garments and weep before Me, I also have heard thee, saith Jehovah” (2 Kings 22:1919Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. (2 Kings 22:19)). To humble himself was, in fact, the only thing needful. This characterized Josiah and at all times characterizes the faithful remnant in the midst of evil (Ezek. 9:44And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. (Ezekiel 9:4)) in the days of the ruin of the Church, and among those who profess to know the name of the Lord. Today one can recognize the hearts of the faithful by the humiliation they feel at the state of things. Josiah’s heart was very sensitive to this; he rent his garments and wept. But according to 2 Kings 22:2020Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again. (2 Kings 22:20) he was to be “taken away from before the evil,” as Isaiah says (Isa. 57.1).