2 Kings chapter 23. 23 goes along with chapter 22 as
it deals with the reign of King Josiah. And last week we saw
how the finding of the book of the law was read to Josiah and
he humbled himself before God and the Lord God through the
prophet Huldah. promised there would in fact
be judgment upon Judah, but Josiah would be spared in terms of his
own death. It wouldn't necessarily be a
peaceful death for him as he dies in battle, but peace in
terms of the condition of Judah. So beginning in chapter 23, we'll
read from verses 1 to 30. Now the king sent them to gather
all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. The king went up to the
house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, and with him all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets
and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their
hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which had
been found in the house of the Lord. Then the king stood by
a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the
Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes
with all his heart and all his soul to perform the words of
this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people
took a stand for the covenant. And the king commanded Hilkiah
the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the
doorkeepers to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the articles
that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the hosts
of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem
in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.
Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah
had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities
of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who
burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations,
and to all the hosts of heaven. And he brought out the wooden
image from the house of the Lord to the brook Kidron outside Jerusalem,
burned it at the brook Kidron, and ground it to ashes, and threw
its ashes on the graves of the common people. Then he tore down
the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house
of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the wooden
image. And he brought all the priests
from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where
the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba. Also,
he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the
entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which
were to the left of the city gate. Nevertheless, the priests
of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in
Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren. And he defiled Topheth, which
is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no man might make
his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech. Then
he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated
to the sun at the entrance to the house of the Lord by the
chamber of Nathan Melech, the officer who was in the court,
and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. The altars
that were on the roof, 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, the king broke down and
pulverized there and threw their dust into the brook Kidron. Then
the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem,
which were on the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon,
king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth, the abomination of
the Sidonians, for Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites,
and for Milcom, the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he
broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images
and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover, the
altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam,
the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar
and the high place he broke down. And he burned the high place
and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image. As Josiah
turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. 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. which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. Then
he said, What gravestone is this that I see? So the men of the
city told him, It is the tomb of the man of God who came from
Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the
altar of Bethel. And he said, Let him alone, let
no one move his bones. So they let his bones alone with
the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. Now Josiah
also took away all the shrines of the high places that were
in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made
to provoke the Lord to anger. And he did to them according
to all the deeds he had done in Bethel. He executed all the
priests of the high places who were there on the altars and
burned men's bones on them, and he returned to Jerusalem. Then
the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover to
the Lord your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.
Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the
judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings
of Israel and the kings of Judah. But in the 18th year of King
Josiah, this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem.
Moreover, Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists
and household gods and idols and all the abominations that
were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might
perform the words of the law which were written in the book
that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. Now
before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord
with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might,
according to all the law of Moses. Nor after him did any arise like
him. Nevertheless, the Lord did not
turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger
was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations which
Manasseh had provoked him. And the Lord said, I will also
remove Judah from my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will
cast off this city, Jerusalem, which I have chosen, and the
house of which I said, My name shall be there. Now the rest
of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written
in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? In his
days, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went to the aid of the
king of Assyria, to the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went
against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him
at Megiddo when he confronted him. Then his servants moved
his body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem and
buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took
Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, anointed him and made him king
in his father's place. Amen. So just by way of reminder,
King Josiah reigned from 640 BC to 609 BC. And as we learn in this particular
chapter, he was in fact a great king, one of the best of Judah. And the text is very conspicuous
and specific to indicate that. And what we find here primarily
are his reforms with reference to the worship and priesthood
in Judah. And the fact that he does these
sorts of things indicates to us just how bad it was in Judah
at this particular time. I mean, in many respects, chapter
23 reads like a spring cleaning. Josiah went in and cleaned house.
He made a purge both in the south and also into the north. And
in that, he shows some degree of unification of the two kingdoms
of Israel. I want to look at, first of all,
the Reformation under Josiah in verses 1 to 25. Secondly,
the judgment upon Judah in verses 26 and 27. And then the death
of Josiah in verses 28 to 30. But note first with reference
to this reformation. There is first covenant renewal
in verses 1 to 3. Notice, they find the book of
the law in chapter 22. It's read in Josiah's hearing
according to verse 10b. Josiah then humbles himself under
the reading of the law and he cries out or asks or seeks or
inquires of prophetic testimony to interpret and apply that particular
law. So in light of the finding of
the book of the law, now they ratify or engage in this covenant. They're not making a brand new
covenant, but they are renewing the covenant that was already
present. Remember, God made a covenant with the nation of Israel. They
swear fidelity in Exodus chapter 24. They swear and testify all
the things written in this law we will do. They get to chapter
32 and they abandon that and they dance before a calf. and
they engage in all matter of idolatry. And there is, subsequent
to that, renewal ceremonies. And you see that specifically
in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 29, the whole chapter,
chapter 31, verses 9 to 13. And then there is a covenant
renewal ceremony at Shechem under Joshua's lead in Joshua chapter
24. So it was not an uncommon thing.
In times of revival, in times of reformation, the people would
indeed affirm the covenant that they had made with God renew
that covenant that they had made with God and swear faithfulness
in terms of that covenant. So all of the people are gathered
together. Notice in verse 1, we see the
elders of Judah and Jerusalem. Verse 2, we see priests and prophets
and all the people. And then Josiah has read in their
hearing the book of the covenant. This is the book of the law that
was found in the previous chapter. It's probably specifically the
Book of Deuteronomy. Here it's termed as the Book
of the Covenant. And then in verse 3 it says,
Then the king stood by a pillar, made a covenant before the Lord
to follow the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies
and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul to perform
the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And
it goes on to say, and all the people took a stand for the covenant.
So they renew it. And this serves as the basis
then for this reformation under Josiah. And as I said, it's quite
extensive and it's quite intensive and it is utterly comprehensive
because all manner of wickedness is dealt with by Josiah. We have
seen these sins heaped up by the various kings in Israel and
in Judah. We have seen some of the kings
of Judah purge, at least to one degree or other, but we have
never seen a king like this do this thorough of a sweep in the
entirety of the nation. So Josiah truly is a godly man. He certainly doesn't end well
in terms of his death at Megiddo there, and probably he is possibly
pro-Babylonian as he goes against Pharaoh Niko and he dies on the
field of battle. But all in all, the testimony
concerning this man is stellar and it is very much worthy because
he was indeed a godly man. So let's look at these religious
reforms. Note first the purge in Judah
in verses 4 to 14. So he begins in the south. He
is a king of Judah, so he is beginning in the south. That's
the only kingdom that is still extant or still intact at this
particular time. The northern kingdom has already
been judged. The fact that he's able to go into the north and
engage in purge there may be indicative of the fact that Assyria
was weakening at this particular time and probably depopulating
the northern kingdom. Remember that in chapter 17 in
2nd Kings when Assyria conquers Samaria, they resettle peoples
there. Well, probably as Assyria is
weakening, those peoples are now leaving. And so it leaves
it open for Josiah to go to the north, we'll see that in verse
15, to engage in a purge there. But notice with reference to
Judah, in the first place he removes and burns the pagan vessels
in verse 4. Anything that was used in the
temple of the Lord in concert with pagan worship, he orders
those things to be removed, and to be burned. Secondly, we note
the removal of idolatrous priests in verse 5. Again, the fact that
these things are even in the kingdom of God on earth is quite
an alarming thing, but it is a blessing to see this man enabled
by the Spirit of God, empowered by the Word of God, engaged in
this reform under God. So verse 5, he removes the idolatrous
priests. Verse 6, he burns and pulverizes
the image of Asherah. Remember that Asherah was a female
deity, a female goddess. Baal was a male and oftentimes
these would be worshipped through fornication or copulation on
the part of the worshipper in order to try and get Baal and
Asherah to mate so that then Baal would indeed increase fertility
on the land. So that Israel's engaged in this
sort of thing, or Judah is, when they serve and fear the living
and true God, is indicative of how far they have fallen. But
this image of Asherah is burned and pulverized. Notice in verse
7, we have the destruction of the cult prostitutes' temple
apartments. Notice, it says, then he tore
down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in
the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the
wooden image. If you go back for just a moment
to 1 Kings 15, this deals with male prostitutes that served
in a cultic setting, probably to facilitate Baal and Asherah
doing their thing. But in 1 Kings 15, we see that
Asa was committed to this. In verse 12, Go to 1 Kings chapter 22, you
see the same thing takes place under Jehoshaphat in verse 46. The rest of the perverted persons
who remained in the days of his father Esau, he banished from
the land. So you see, even though Esau
did this and Jehoshaphat did this, sin nevertheless returns
and the people of Israel, the people of Judah specifically
here, are engaged in this wickedness. But Josiah makes this purge,
he deals with this particular situation, and he does rid them
from the land. Then notice as well the defiling
of Judah's high places and the removal of her priests in verse
8. He brought all the priests from
the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests
had burned incense, from Deba to Beersheba, Also, he broke
down the high places at the gates, which were at the entrance of
the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were to the
left of the city gate." Notice, it says specifically that he
defiled the high places. Now, this probably means that
he rendered them inoperative, not just by way of destroying
them, but also defiling them. That's why there's this emphasis
on bones. Josiah putting these bones in
various places. It was to render those things
permanently unclean. One man, a commentator named
Ellison, makes this observation. The frequent mention of defiling
in this section, verses 8, 10, 13, and 16, and the defiling
by certain acts in verses 4, 6, 14, 16, and 20, is explained by the fact that
a sanctuary or high place did not lose its sanctity by the
cult objects and buildings being destroyed. In other words, it
wasn't enough just to destroy those particular things. It needed
more drastic action to make the spot profane or ordinary. It's ultimately what profane
means. I mean, in our language or in our use, it typically means
something that's bad. But profane is just the opposite
of sacred. It's something that is ordinary.
It is something that is not of special use. And that's what
he suggests here. It needed more drastic action
to make the spot profane or ordinary. Unless this action was taken,
the sanctuaries would be restored at the next relapse. So this
is why he is doing these particular things. Again, he uses bones
later on in terms of rendering these sites or these particular
places profane or ordinary such that they would not be utilized
again in the service of these false gods. And then notice in
verse 10, the desecration of Topheth. This was the place of
child sacrifice. Verse 10, he defiled Topheth,
which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no man might
make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
Remember, Molech was that god of the pagans that was put into
the flames of fire at the base of the statue, and he had arms
outstretched, and persons or worshipers would take their babies
and throw them up into the arms of this idol. Well, he had hands
and arms, but he couldn't catch, so the babies would fall off
into the fire, and there they would die. Remember that Manasseh
reinstitutes this. Manasseh is Josiah's grandfather,
and he reinstituted this practice in Israel. So already we see
that this had been engaged in, it had been done away with at
certain times, but then reinstituted by Manasseh, but under Josiah
he gets rid of it. Again, notice in verse 11, the
removal of things, specifically horses dedicated to sun worship,
and he burned the chariots. Now, there's a whole host of
reasons why horses may have been used with reference to sun worship,
but suffice it to say that he dealt with that as well. And
then in verse 12, the destruction of royal idolatrous altars, probably
used for astral deities, the sun, the moon, the stars, these
constellations, Notice in verse 12, "...the altars that were
on the roof, 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, the king broke down and pulverized
there, and threw their dust into the brook Kidron." You see, the
kings themselves had engaged in this wickedness. In fact,
if you look at the prophet Zephaniah, he prophesied at the same time
as Josiah. And in Zephaniah chapter 1, At
verse 4, we read, I will stretch out my hand against Judah and
against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every
trace of Baal from this place, the names of the idolatrous priests
with the pagan priests, those who worship the host of heaven
on the housetops, those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord,
but who also swear by Milcom, those who have turned back from
following the Lord and have not sought the Lord nor inquired
of Him. You see, this was a systemic
problem both in Israel and in Judah. And for those of us who
have been here for some time going through 1st and 2nd Kings,
especially 2nd Kings chapter 17, we see or have seen what
happened in the Northern Kingdom when they engaged in these particular
activities. We have already been reminded
that this is, in fact, going to happen in Judah, which begs
the question, and we'll deal with this a bit more at the end
of our study tonight, why does Josiah do this? In other words,
Josiah knows that Judah is, it's been prophesied to be destroyed.
At the reading of the law, he understood the curses of the
covenant were in fact targeted against Judah. He says as much. That's why he sends his men to
Huldah, the prophetess, to seek or inquire of the Lord. Huldah
comes and tells Josiah, or rather through the servants, to tell
Josiah that yes, indeed, Judah is going to be decimated. Judah
is going to be destroyed. She does promise, however, that
he would die in a time of peace. In other words, the execution
of judgment would be stayed during the life and times of Josiah.
But he knows that this is a nation that's ultimately going to collapse.
It's on the verge of collapse. So we ask the question, why does
he do this? Because he's a godly man. And
because this glorifies God. And when a godly man seeks to
honor the Lord, whether he benefits from it or not, whether he gets
something from it or not. See, godly men are not mercenaries. They do what the Lord commands
because the Lord commands. They don't do it with the promise
of blessing. They don't do it with their hands
held out. They're not freeloaders off the government that are going
to just do their thing so that they can get their thing. No,
Josiah knows that ultimately Judah is going to fall, and yet
he engages in this thoroughgoing purge in terms of idolatry in
both the south and the north because he fears God. He wants
to honor God, he wants to keep the covenant, and he wants to
lead the people in that way as well. Now we see that it's short-lived. The people who swear fidelity
to this covenant here in verse 4, ultimately follow Jehoahaz
when he does evil in the sight of the Lord. It shows us that
this reformation, though beautiful and blessed and thorough and
deep on the part of Josiah, was shallow amongst the inhabitants
of the land. They ultimately do reap the curses
of the covenant But we ought to appreciate that Josiah does
what's right because it's right. He doesn't do what's right at
the promise of a certain particular blessing. I think that this is
what Paul's point is when he admonishes children to obey their
parents and the Lord. Why? For this is right. How many
times do parents say, if you obey me, I'll give you a cookie.
If you obey me, I'll take you to the store. If you obey me,
I'll play this game with you. If you obey me, you're doing
what's right, and that's what you need to be taught. Brethren,
it is the right thing to serve, to fear, to glorify, and honor
God whether we get blessed or not. Now we know our God's gracious,
our God is kind, our God is merciful, and more often than not, He heaps
up blessings upon us, especially when we don't deserve them. So
there's never the sense where we're going to be cheated or
gypped or anything like that, But that ought not to go into
our decision-making process. I think far too often we are
mercenaries. We are as bad as Benny Hinn and
the health, wealth, and prosperity people. We won't pray unless
we think we're going to get something. We won't go to church unless
we think we're going to get something. I mean, you hear that when people
go to church. Oh, I just didn't get anything out of it. Since
when did your getting something out of it become the mark and
measure of the Christian church? I mentioned the Belgic Confession
on Sunday morning in our confession study, and I'm going to mention
again on Sunday morning in the sermon on Matthew 28, or as we
conclude the Gospel of Matthew. The Belgic Confession says there
are three marks of the Church, and guess what one of them isn't,
if you and I get something out of worship. Now, again, it is
the case when we come into contact with the living God through the
mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit,
we do get something. We get encouragement, we get
joy, we get blessing, we get happiness, because there's no
better place to be than worshiping the triune God. Is there? There
is no better place to be than under the Word of God, worshiping
with the people of God, singing praises unto God. This is what
should delight the people of God. But the mark of the church
isn't, what do I get out of it? There's a mercenary spirit in
our hearts that serves only to get, and Josiah destroys that
idea in his actions and in his conduct. He knows that Judah
is going to fall. He knows because he has been
assured of it by the prophet Tesholdah, speaking under the
inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit, having interpreted
properly the covenant curses of God in Deuteronomy 28, Leviticus
26. So what does he not do? He doesn't say, well, I'm going
to finish out the rest of my years playing golf. I'm going to finish
out the rest of my years because the Lord said that Judah will
have peace, so that means I'll have peace and I can just sort
of skate and be a lame duck king and reap the benefits of being
a king. No, not Josiah. He goes on this mission to purge
Israel of its absolute wickedness. Notice, in verse 13, the elimination
of Solomon's falling. See, this is the most grievous
text. Verse 13, then the king defiled
the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the
south of the Mount of Corruption. It's the Mount of Olives, but
it's become the Mount of Corruption because of the wickedness conducted
there. Solomon, king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth the abomination
of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites,
and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon." You
see, what he is doing is thoroughgoing. The reference here to Solomon
ought to hang any... or ought to cause any Israelite
with any degree of respectability to hang his head in shame. Solomon
was a godly king, Solomon was a righteous man, Solomon was
full of wisdom, but he disobeyed God and he multiplied wives and
they led his heart away from the living and true God. And
so now Josiah comes and he rectifies this. In fact, Paul House says,
Josiah rolls back the clock, so to speak, to pre-idolatry
Jerusalem, to the glory days of David when images were not
welcome in the capital city of the Lord's people. Monotheism
is once again at least the official theology, whether or not the
people in fact embrace what is to them a novel concept. You
see, even Solomon instituted idolatry in the covenant people
of God. So it's Josiah now who is, as
House says, turning back the clock to that pre-idolatry era
when David was the king of Israel and there wasn't institutionalized
idolatry. Remember we have seen that in
many cases, many instances, many times in our studies in the Kings.
David was a man after God's own heart. Not because he was perfect.
We know he committed murder, he committed adultery, but he
never committed idolatry. He never departed from Yahweh.
He never engaged in idolatry against the living and true God.
And then notice finally, with reference to the purge in the
south, the destruction of things used in fertility worship in
verse 14. He broke in pieces the sacred
pillars and cut down the wooden images and filled their places
with the bones of men. Again, just these sort of 10
items that he's done in the South. This is a lot of work for a man
who knows that ultimately Judah's going to collapse. But he does
it for the glory of God. He does it to have a positive
impact upon the people of his day at that particular time.
In short, he does it because it's right, not because of what
he'll get. Now, note the purge in the north
in verses 15 to 20. This has already been hinted
at in verse 4. If you notice back in verse 4, the king commanded
Elkiah, the high priest, the priests of the second order,
and the doorkeepers to bring out of the temple of the Lord
all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for
all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside Jerusalem
in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. Remember
that Bethel was one of the primary locations instituted by Jeroboam,
the son of Nebat, for the worship of the calves. This was wickedness. Jeroboam, again Solomon didn't
do very well in terms of the end of his life, Jeroboam comes
along, and he institutionalizes idolatry in a way that even Solomon
hadn't done. And then we get to Ahab, and
we see him institutionalize idolatry in a way that men hadn't done.
So you see the wickedness that these particular individuals
are engaged in, and Josiah is correcting it. Notice he destroys
Jeroboam's Bethel worship center. And it's intriguing. Proven makes
this observation. He says, Josiah now takes action
against this cult, which has lived on in the activities of
the new settlers in the land of Israel. He does so in a way
that recalls Moses' own action against the first golden calf. He burns the high place along
with the Asherah pool and grinds it to powder. Josiah is a second
Moses. Josiah is Moses-like. Many times
he is compared, or his conduct, rather, is gauged against or
measured against the law of Moses. The fact that he follows the
Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, hearkens back to
the Shema of Deuteronomy 6, verse 4, and its response, you shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. So, this Josiah is a Mosaic-like
man, and he does the same as Moses did at the calf worship
in Exodus chapter 32. Something else we ought to appreciate
here, specifically in verses 16 to 18, is the fulfillment
of the Word of God. The fulfillment of the Word of
God back in 1 Kings 13. In fact, you can turn there.
For those who were not here at that particular time, there's
something significant happening in our text that was prophesied
about 300 years prior to this. This is after Jeroboam institutes
these worship centers. This is after he erects the golden,
or the calves, and he calls upon Israel to bow to these calves. Notice in chapter 13 of 1 Kings,
verse 1. And behold, a man of God went
from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood
by the altar to burn incense. Then he cried out against the
altar by the word of the Lord and said, O altar, altar, thus
says the Lord. Behold, a child, Josiah by name,
shall be born to the house of David. You see, there's always
hope in a Davidic son. There's always hope in a son
of David to come and correct the problems of a particular
age. In fact, there's some typology
going on here. We see the prophetic statement
concerning Josiah and that he would indeed purge Israel of
its idols. Josiah in turn functions typologically
for our Lord Jesus. One of his prophesied roles,
according to Malachi chapter 3, is to purge Israel of her
idolatry and of her sin. We see this as well in Revelation
chapter 2 and 3 where Jesus is purging the church of their sin. So when we see this particular
statement, About 300 years prior, thus says the Lord, Behold, a
child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David,
and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places
who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on
you. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign
which the Lord has spoken. Surely the altar shall split
apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out. You see the fulfillment
of God's word here in 2 Kings 23. Josiah is the Davidic son
prophesied in 1 Kings 13 to bring an end to Jeroboam's calf cult. And this is precisely what's
happening here in 2 Kings 23 verses 16 to 18. It really is
a beautiful thing. It's really a glorious thing
to see this happening. And then notice the purge throughout
the northern cities in verses 19 and 20. Now Josiah also took
away all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities
of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the
Lord to anger. And he did to them according
to all the deeds he had done in Bethel. He executed all the
priests of the high places who were there on the altars and
burned men's bones on them, and he returned to Jerusalem." Now
I think there's troublesome people because they get a little freaked
out that the king is actually killing priests. But this is
in accordance with God's Word. Remember Elijah on Mount Carmel
with those prophets of Baal? He ordered their execution. Brethren,
this was a violation of the theocratic republic that was constituted
at this particular time. To engage in idolatry was an
act of treason in the commonwealth of Israel. But as well, we see
in Exodus 2220, it says very specifically, he who sacrifices
to any God except to the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed. Deuteronomy chapter 13, that
blessed passage, a blessed passage in terms of the reality of God's
holiness and righteousness and the necessity for the people
of God to resist apostasy, to resist idolatry, to resist seduction
to idolatry. Remember in Deuteronomy chapter
13, you were to kill the false prophets. You see, there are
those who prophesy today falsely, and nothing ever happens to them.
If they happened to live a thousand or two thousand years ago, several
thousand years ago, they would have been put to death for false
prophecy. That was the mandate. You didn't live after you engaged
in false prophecy. God demands it. And then specifically
in chapter 13, verses 6 to 11, he says, if your brother, the
son of your mother, your son, or your daughter, the wife of
your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly
entices you saying, let us go and serve other gods, basically,
you shall kill them. The idea being that seduction
to apostasy or seduction to idolatry was a capital offense in Israel,
and we see the execution of these priests in 2 Kings 23 is absolutely
legit. Again, Paul Howe says, with Judah
cleansed, Josiah moves north to Bethel. which had served as
one of the major worship centers in Jeroboam's maverick cult.
Josiah does this and thereby reclaims all the promised land
for the worship of the Lord. Don't miss the theology that's
going on here. We've already had a nod to Solomon
in a negative way. But what do we now have? We have
a Judean king going up into the north and essentially uniting
the kingdom. Not politically necessarily,
because he doesn't occupy sort of the reign or rule over the
northern kingdom, but theologically this is a very significant event. He purges the south, he purges
the north, and thus he brings the two kingdoms together once
again in a way that shows that when the text says that there
was never a king like him, that's accurate. Hezekiah was a good
and godly king to be sure, but Josiah is doing things here that
are Davidic-like, that are David-like and Solomon-like. The last time
the kingdom was united was under Solomon. And so what he's doing
here is very significant. He says, again, the author emphasizes
restoration. Both parts of the divided kingdom
are reunited spiritually, if not politically. Both sections
of the land return to fidelity to the Lord and to an emphasis
on worship at a central sanctuary. Very significant. Again, we know
it's going to be short-lived, Judah's going to collapse when
we get to chapter 25, but it's a blessed thing to see Josiah
functioning as a Davidic son, doing the work of Yahweh. Now
notice, with reference to the Reforms, sacraments are observed. You see, this follows a particular
pattern, or this sort of sets forth a particular pattern, that
is duplicated in the Church ever since. You see, the law of God
is found, it's internalized by those who have found it, and
then reform follows, right? And there's a close connection
between chapters 22 and 23. They find the law of God, they
act upon the law of God. What happens when we act upon
the law of God? We get our worship practices
in order. What happens when we follow the
law of God? We get our sacraments in order. What happens when we
follow the law of God? We get rid of idols. We get rid
of those things that would, you know, promote wickedness within
the camp of the people of God. This is a common thread or theme. If you study church history,
this is what revival looks like. The people get gripped with the
truth of God's Word and they engage in reform. They engage
in those sorts of things. that are pleasing to God, they
obey God, they renew covenants, they reform worship, and they
engage in biblical sacraments. Notice in verses 21 and 22, then
the king commanded all the people saying, keep the Passover to
the Lord your God as it is written in the book of the covenant.
This is written obviously in Exodus chapter 12, and then it's
repeated in Deuteronomy chapter 16. You see, this had gone by
the wayside. When you've got, you know, idols
with Asherah, you've got idols to Baal, you've got priests that
are prostituting the temple worship. Passover was long forgotten. They weren't engaged in these
particular things. Remember, God gave Passover for
the people to remember God's work of redemption of His people
out of the land of Egypt. That was the significance. So
if they are not engaged in Passover, guess what else they're not engaged
in? They're not remembering the God of salvation. They're not
remembering the God of redemption. They're not remembering what
they were in terms of Egypt and having been brought out in the
Exodus by the power of Yahweh. Same thing is true for us today.
When we neglect the supper, when we neglect the truths represented
by the supper, we're neglecting the God who orchestrated the
work of redemption and gave us the supper in order to symbolize
it and represent it. in a tangible way for His people
so that they can be confirmed in the faith. You see, sacraments
are forgotten when the people of God are neglecting God. Sacraments
become important when the people of God are remembering God. They're specific signposts or
tent pegs that God gives us to hang our souls on to encourage
ourselves in the knowledge of God and who He is and what He's
done. See, this is why Pastor Porter
and I often nag the people of God in our church. Don't miss
the Lord's table. It's very important. A neglect
of the table is a neglect of the God of the table. He is lavishing
this bounty upon us as the householder to refresh his weary pilgrims.
And we're going to slight that? We're going to neglect that?
We're going to resist that and say, no, God? The Lord gives
us these benefits for His glory and for our good. Now, in verse
22, it says, such a Passover surely had never been held since
the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of
the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. Now, if you look at
2 Chronicles chapter 30, Hezekiah kept Passover. And some say,
well, how in the world could the author here say this with
reference to the fact that Hezekiah kept a Passover? I think the
idea is that Josias exceeded it in terms of participation. Remember, he's unified the kingdom,
as it were, at least theologically, not politically. And so it's
all the people gathering together for this Passover feast. So in
that sense, what the author says is absolutely, positively, 100%
true. Such a Passover surely had never
been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor
in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. But in the 18th year of King
Josiah, this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem. So we see. We've got the covenant
renewal, we've got the reform of worship, and we've got the
observation of sacraments. That's biblical reformation. You look at the Reformation in
the 16th century, what did they do? They essentially renewed
covenant with God to purge the church of popish errors. They
engage in the reform of worship, get the incense out, get the
priests out, get the pulpit in the center, get rid of the altar,
get rid of the mass, get rid of all those abominations. They
reform the sacraments in terms of observance. We don't do it
the way that Rome does it. We don't transubstantiate and
actually turn these things into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
One of the most debated issues, one of the topics that was written
on the most during the Protestant Reformation. Guess what it was? We probably all say justification
by faith alone. And we would be absolutely positively
wrong. It was the supper. It was the
Lord's Supper. You say, well, why? Because it
touches on who Jesus Christ is. You see, there's more problems
with the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation than meets the eye. If what they
are saying is true, they are divinizing the body, the physical
humanity of our Lord Jesus. That's a denial of what's called
the hypostatic union. The Lord's Supper touches on
Christology, that's why it's so important, and that's why
the reformers dealt with it at great detail. But that pattern,
the reception of the Word of God, renewal of the covenant,
Reformation of worship, the proper observance of the sacraments.
That is precisely what Josiah undergoes in this particular
chapter. This particular section ends
with the uniqueness of Josiah in verses 24 and 25. Notice.
Moreover, Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists,
the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were
seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform
the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah
the priest found in the house of the Lord." Certainly, the
scriptures forbid such in the land of Israel. Leviticus 19.13,
Leviticus 20.27, Deuteronomy 18.11. It is not the case that Israel
is supposed to entertain spiritists and mediums. Remember that Saul
purged the land, and then when Saul didn't get a word from Yahweh,
he fetched the witch in Endor. He sought out the witch in Endor.
So he was not consistent. Josiah, however, is consistent. He puts these things out of the
land. And then verse 25 is a glowing
statement concerning this man. Now before him, there was no
king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with
all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law
of Moses. nor after him did any arise like
him." See, that is a comparison that is supposed to remind us
of Moses. He's a second Moses. If Hezekiah
was a second David, so is Josiah, but Josiah is a second Moses. He's a lawman. He purges Israel
of their wickedness and sin. He gets rid of the idols. He
gets rid of Baal. He gets rid of Asherah. He gets
rid of these priests that engage in these things. He gets rid
of the sodomites from the land, these cult prostitutes. He gets
rid of anything that smacks up or reeks of idolatry and rebellion
against the living God. Again, notice the particular
standard according to all the law of Moses. He didn't pick
and choose. He didn't take a little bit,
but rather it was all the law of Moses. Now, having said all
that, verses 26 and 27 sort of smack us right in the face, don't
they? Nevertheless, the Lord did not
turn from the fierceness of his great wrath." After all this
great stuff that Josiah does, we're inclined to think, well,
everything's going to be peachy king now, isn't it? Everything's
going to be rosy. Josiah's fixed everything. No,
he hasn't. The nation was bad. The nation
had come under God's judgment. The nation is heading on that
collision course, and all the good that Josiah accomplishes
may stay the execution of judgment, at least for a brief time, but
the execution of judgment is coming. You cannot continually
rebel against God. You cannot continually reject
God, and you cannot then think that everything's going to be
okay with God. Learn something from the nation
of Judah. God is not mocked. Jeremiah 3
deals with this in great detail. Remember, Jeremiah prophesied
at the same time that Josiah was king in Judah. In Jeremiah
chapter 3, Jeremiah upgrades the nation of Judah. And essentially
he says, you should have learned from your sister in the north.
You should have learned by what happened to her. She sinned against
God and God sent her away. Now you've come along and you
have out sinned even her. Ezekiel 23, I think, uses that
same convention as well. The two sisters that were Israel,
the north, and Judah, the south. So in Jeremiah 3, Judah should
have learned the lesson. In fact, this is what makes them
more guilty and more culpable with reference to the judgment
of God. They not only do the same sins that the north does,
but they have the pattern of the northern exile. In other
words, they have seen what God does to a nation that continues
to reject Him. Now, may I jump into the New
Covenant and say, how dare we continue to sin against this
God when we have the example of the North and the Assyrian
captivity, we have the example of the South and the Babylonian
captivity, we have the written admonition from John the Apostle
in 1 John 5.21, my little children, keep yourselves from idols, and
then we dare to go and engage in idolatry. It's absolute insanity
when you stop and parse it out. There is so much in the scripture
to argue against any participation of us with Belial that we are
a madman to engage in it. I almost said knuckleheads, that's
accurate. It doesn't quite convey how bad
it is, though. Brethren, we see what God does
to idolatry. We are told in the Gospels not
to be lovers of Mammon. We're told in the Gospels not
to be lovers of the world. We have seen James. I mean, has
anybody sat pleasantly, happily under these messages in James? James doesn't mess around. James
smacks you right like this nevertheless does in 2 Kings 23-26. You cannot continue to profess
faith in Jesus Christ and live as if God doesn't matter. That
is simply unacceptable behavior. We saw this in the Great Commission.
What's the purpose of the Commission? Go, therefore, make disciples,
baptize them, and teach them to do what? To observe all the
things that I have commanded. Not to reject them, not to neglect
them, not to pretend like they're not there. What's James say in
James 119? We are to be doers of the Word,
not just hearers. We don't get points for simply
hearing. We need to take the Word of God,
internalize the Word of God, and apply the Word of God the
way that Josiah does, with all his heart, with all his soul,
with all his might. Now certainly, as I say this,
you will hopefully see your absolute need for the Holy Spirit. Because
we can't do this on our own. We don't do this in our own strength.
If we don't have the Spirit of God, we will not be compliant
with the Word of God. So we see that nevertheless the
Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which
His anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations
excuse me, with which Manasseh had provoked him. And the Lord
said, I will also remove Judah from my sight as I have removed
Israel and will cast off this city, Jerusalem, which I have
chosen and the house of which I said, my name shall be there. John Gill says, notwithstanding
the great reformation wrought among them, for though Josiah
was a sincere reformer and did what he did heartily as to the
Lord according to his will and for his glory, yet the people
were not sincere in their compliance. They turned to the Lord not with
their whole heart, but faintedly. And then he refers to Jeremiah
chapter 3 verse 10. So we see that what happens in
Josiah is a blessing, it's good, it's awesome, it's a wonderful
example for us, but it's too late for Judah. Proven says,
at this juncture in Judean history, strangely enough, Judah finds
herself with yet another righteous king, a second Moses to match
her second David, Hezekiah. Josiah is a long-awaited king,
is long-awaited, 1 Kings 13. He is the best of all kings,
but he is a king come too late. It's not going to benefit the
people at this particular point. And then the final scene is his
death at Megiddo. His death at Megiddo under Pharaoh
Necho. It's not a lot of details here.
There's more details in 2 Chronicles, chapter 35, verses 20 to 27.
We ask the question, why does he do this? Why does he go out
there and face Pharaoh and Assyria? Well, the text doesn't give us
the specifics. Most likely, it wasn't a good
move on his part. I mean, obviously, it wasn't
a good move because he died at the hands of Pharaoh Necho. but
he does die as it was stipulated, or as it was written, or as we
have seen here specifically. It's not a violation of what
Huldah says. The peace there in 2220 has to
do with Judah. Judah will remain intact throughout
the life of Josiah. So thus the exposition. We ought
to learn from this by way of a quick conclusion. First, the
reception of God's word should lead to reformation. according
to God's Word. In other words, when we receive
that Word and we understand that Word, we ought to reform ourselves
to that Word. This is a fundamental principle
in biblical religion. God wants us to do what He tells
us to. You want your kid to do what you tell him to or you tell
her to. And if they don't, there's chastisement,
hopefully, because if not, then they're going to grow up and
be rotten human beings. Discipline your children for the good of
society. But God demands obedience and compliance with his word.
That is crucial, brethren, and we see this in the reform under
Josiah. The nature of his reform, it
was intensive. Not one iota of idolatry is left
intact. Everything that had been instituted,
everything that had been put in place, right down to Jeroboam,
son of Nebat, institution of calf worship in 1 Kings 13. Josiah deals with it. He goes
to the north, he goes to Bethel, he goes to that worship center,
and he deals the death blow to all these things. It was extensive,
the entirety of the land, both south and north, was purged,
and the reform was comprehensive. It was according to the law of
Moses. We learn in this passage as well
the judgment of God. The judgment of God, this nevertheless,
in verse 26, is a stark reminder that God's judgment upon Judah
was in fact inevitable. They had filled up the measure
of their guilt and the judgment of God would indeed come upon
them. Notice the statement in verses 26 and 27 confirms what
we've already seen. Go back to 2 Kings 17. 2 Kings chapter 17 is a record
of the fall of the northern kingdom. And in 2 Kings chapter 17 at
verse 19, it says, Now it's just a short statement, a brief statement,
but in the context of the fall of the North, When it tells us that Judah is
doing the same things that the North has done, that does not
bode well. That foreshadows bad things concerning
Judah. Notice in chapter 20. Chapter
20, remember Hezekiah entertains Babylonians, and Isaiah the prophet
rebukes him. In 2 Kings 20 at verse 16, Isaiah
said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord. Behold, the days
are coming when all that is in your house and what your fathers
have accumulated until this day shall be carried to Babylon.
Nothing shall be left, says the Lord, and they shall take away
some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget,
and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
That's basically a statement saying the southern kingdom is
going to be shut down. Remember that these kings, it
was dynastic. You depended on, you know, sons
that could reproduce to further the dynasty. And the fact that
the sons of the king are going to be eunuchs indicates the end
of the line in terms of the dynasty. We see it very specifically stated
in chapter 21, verses 10 to 16. Under Manasseh, we have this
promise of the coming judgment of God. And then in chapter 22,
specifically to Josiah, the prophetess Huldah says that this is indeed
going to happen. Verses 16 and 17. Josiah had heard the covenant
curses. Josiah had heard the prophecy
from Huldah. Josiah knew what was coming,
but back to that question, why does he do what he does? Proven
says, since Josiah is a pious king, Huldah's oracle about the
future does not deflect Josiah from the path of reform. Because
he was godly, he did what he was supposed to do. That's a
principle that we need to capture again in the church. Do what
you're supposed to do because it's right, not because of what
you get. You know, we constantly have
to sort of encourage and entice and incentivize people. And God
does encourage, God does entice, and God does incentivize. But
brethren, we should do what we're supposed to do because it's right.
That is a gift that is somewhat lacking today. He says, Reformation
in the light of the law book is still the right thing to do,
and Josiah is one who, above all others, does what is right. And I like Davis's response to
this whole issue. Why does Josiah do what he does
in light of the fact that the kingdom is going to collapse?
Wrath is consuming and coming uncertain, but Josiah already
knew this. Huldah's prophecy had made that
clear, yet he pressed on infidelity to the covenant. in commitment,
sacrament, and worship. But why? Would it make any eventual
difference? Would it last? Would it save
the nation? Would it cool God's wrath? No to all these, but Josiah's
is a faithfulness that does not confuse obedience with pragmatism
and so pushes on, not because it will change anything, but
simply because God demands it. It's so simple. Please do what
God says. You know, we want to paint everything
with these complicated sort of strokes of the brush. When all
is said and done, do what God says. Obedience, I love this
line, obedience without incentives is likely genuine. Obedience
without incentives is likely genuine. It's a beautiful statement. And then he makes the comparison,
Davis does, with Mary and Bethany. Remember the anointing of Bethany
at the introduction of the passion narrative in Matthew 26? We get
sort of lay of the land, what's happening, the priests are conniving.
and they're gonna destroy Jesus, and then we get this scene of
Mary and Bethany anoint the feet of the Savior. In Mark's gospel,
the disciples try to stop her, and he says, leave her alone,
she did what she could. Remember that? Wasn't huge, wasn't
astronomical, but she did what she could. Davis says, one might
say something similar of Josiah and any one of the Lord's people
who remain faithful with no relief in sight. And it is the way of
Josiah's spiritual descendants who, unlike the king, may not
have the potential to sway a nation, but who worship God faithfully
and keep his commandments, though it may not resolve personal problems,
bring economic success, or relieve emotional distress. You ever
have that? Why do you serve God? Your life
looks as miserable as mine. Because it's the right thing
to do. And because it's what does produce
joy. It's not all the bells and the
whistles, but it's the service and the devotion and the worship
of God that ultimately matters for God's people. I think Josiah
is a very instructive character for us in the history of redemption.
Why don't we close in a word of prayer. Father, we thank you
for your word. Thank you that Josiah did what he could, and
may we, like him, seek to be faithful and obedient unto you,
even when there isn't immediate payout or we aren't incentivized
or enticed. Help us, God, to be a faithful,
disciplined, persevering people, knowing that God is, in fact,
good, knowing that the best joy is to serve the Lord Most High.
May we have that mindset, may you cause us to receive the Word
and to make those reformations in our own hearts and in our
own lives and in our own churches that are according to your Word.
Go with us now, we pray and we ask through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
