The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 115, Josiah King Of Judah, Part Two

In Tuesday's study we began our study of King Josiah who came to the throne of Judah at the young age of eight when his father, Amon, was assassinated by some of his own officials. The Bible doesn't tell us much about Josiah's first years as king; presumably, he had a co-regent or advisors who guided him until he reached the age of majority. The next thing we are told about him takes place when he is sixteen years old, which is probably the age at which a lot of kingly responsibility was beginning to be given to him. I think he already had a heart for the Lord but that, as more and more of the weight of leadership settled upon his shoulders, he realized he could not wisely govern the nation without the Lord's help.

"In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David." (2 Chronicles 34:3a) I think at first this seeking was done primarily in private---in prayer and meditation. These private prayers and his growing relationship with the Lord naturally led to him noticing things in public that needed to be changed. He becomes more and more aware of the idolatrous images that his father and many of the citizens set up in Jerusalem. He becomes more and more aware of the dangers posed by idolatry. At the age of twenty he takes action to rid the capitol city and the surrounding countryside of these images and these sinful practices. "In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols. Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them, and smashed the Asherah poles and the idols. These he broke to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them." (2 Chronicles 34:3b-4)

Momentarily we are going to look back at the words of a prophet who lived almost three hundred years earlier who foretold the birth of Josiah and the reforms he would make---not only in the kingdom of Judah but in the kingdom of Israel as well. Josiah begins by carrying out reforms in his own kingdom but later he will take steps to rid the northern kingdom of idolatrous religious sites, and he can only do this because Assyria has conquered the northern kingdom. The Assyrians have already begun deportations of Israelites to other lands, as well as settling Israel with people from other lands, and the borders must either not be closely monitored or else the Assyrians do not care who enters the land as long as the entrants are not there to make war with them. So many different cultures with different religious practices are present in Israel at this time that the Assyrians must not have concerned themselves with the various people's disagreements over altars and images. 

Before we move forward with our study of Josiah's reforms, we must look back to the book of 1 Kings to study the words of a prophet of Judah who went to the northern kingdom of Israel to speak to King Jeroboam I of Israel as he made an offering at one of the golden calf religious sites he set up in Israel. "By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: 'Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.'" (1 Kings 13:1-2) 

The Lord called Josiah by name three centuries before he was born! And the Lord knew us before we were born too! I believe that, before the Lord ever spoke the universe into existence, He knew the name of every person who would ever be born. He had a plan for each of our lives long before we were ever born. He knew every word we would ever say and He knew everything we would ever do and He knew every thought we would ever think. Nobody knows us like the Lord knows us and yet, knowing every sin we would ever commit and every wrong thought we would ever think and every unkind word we would ever speak, He loved us and made a plan of salvation for us. That should comfort us today. The One who knows the very worst about us is the One who loves us more than anyone else ever has or ever will! 

We will conclude today with these verses below that prove that the prophecy about Josiah came true. We will be studying these events in more detail later on as we continue our study of his reign. As we study these verses we must keep in mind that Josiah was following the laws the Lord gave through Moses when Josiah orders the execution of the idolatrous priests. Anyone who cursed the name of the Lord, proclaimed someone or something else as Lord, or who claimed to be a priest or prophet and led others into idolatry was committing a capital offense. "He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and Jerusalem. In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali; and in the ruins around them, he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles and crushed the idols to powder and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem." (2 Chronicles 34:5-7) 

These verses make mention of burning the bones of the sinful priests and further on in our study we will find Josiah tearing down the altar at Bethel and burning bones on it, just as the prophet said he would. The Lord hated the golden calf idols at Bethel and at Dan. The Lord hated the sinful altars at those locations. Jeroboam led the people away from the proper worship of the Lord at the place He had designated. Jeroboam's actions began the fall of the people of Israel into idolatry, leading to the eventual downfall of the nation itself. King Josiah makes it clear how he feels about idolatry and how he feels about those who entice others into idolatry. He does not intend to tolerate these things, for the judgment of the Lord has already fallen upon many idolatrous nations and he does not want the same thing happening to Judah.