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Today I’d like to take you back to the year 640 BC, to the city of Jerusalem - the royal city of King David. But by this time David had been dead for 330 years, and things had changed dramatically. A lot can happen in three centuries. If you want to compare it to Australia’s history, consider that the First Fleet arrived here in 1788, only 237 years ago. Think of how much has changed since then - both for good and for bad.
So it has been three centuries since the heyday of the combined kingdom under David and then under Solomon. The northern kingdom of Israel has been scattered and in captivity since the Assyrians invaded there 80 years prior. The largely desolate land to the north - where the nation of Israel used to be - stands as a stark reminder of God’s judgement. And yet the people living in Judah haven’t paid attention to this message; in fact, by this time they were living even more wicked lives than the people in the kingdom of Israel had been living. Just a few years after this, the prophet Jeremiah said, “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.” (Jer 5:1). The situation was dire.
But on this particular day in the year 640 BC, there was celebration throughout the streets of Jerusalem because a new king had just been anointed. His name was King Josiah and he was eight years old.
Now before we get to discussing Josiah himself, there are two notable things to point out. The first is the prophecy concerning him in 1 Kings 13:2. This prophecy was made by an unnamed prophet - almost 280 years before Josiah was even born. Jeroboam - one of Solomon’s servants who took control of the northern Israelite tribes after Solomon died - had made a pagan altar in Bethel, which he used to sacrifice to idols. Now this anonymous prophet confronted Jeroboam at his pagan altar and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” (1 Kg 13:2). Remember, this is almost 280 years before Josiah was born, but he is specified by name and his actions are spelt out in graphic detail.
From this, we can clearly see that God raises up leaders when they are needed. He raises up exactly the right people, with exactly the right experiences, and in exactly the right location to shepherd His people at that time.
Think of other examples from the Bible… Think of Moses, think of Joshua, think of the judges, of Samuel and David. They encompass both people who were “born into the position of a leader”, and people from humble backgrounds who found themselves unexpectedly placed in a leadership position by God. Some were immediately ready to answer God’s call, while others were more reluctant. However, all of them were prepared for their specific role by their previous experiences and ultimately answered God’s call when it came. God raises up leaders for His people when they are needed.
The second thing to point out is Josiah’s lineage and upbringing. His grandfather was King Manasseh, who is described as one of the most wicked kings in the history of Judah or Israel. The description of Manasseh’s bad deeds is both longer and more detailed than any other king (e.g. 2 Kgs 21:16). Although he did finally repent of his evil ways in his old age, it was a case of too little, too late - and his subjects, the people of Judah, didn’t change from their ways.
Then Josiah’s father was King Amon. He was such a bad character that his own servants assassinated him after only 2 years on the throne. In fact, it’s almost a miracle that Josiah survived childhood, given that both his father and grandfather followed the abominable practice of sacrificing their sons to false gods.
And yet, despite this foreboding ancestry, Josiah went on to become perhaps the most praised king of Judah. 2 Kings 23:25 says, “Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did like him arise after him.” From this we can see that our ancestry, our background, our origin does not define us. While our family and our upbringing can have a large impact on our lives, that is the beginning of our story. It is not the end of our story. It is not the ultimate authority - that role belongs to God.
So how did Josiah - the son of an evil king and the grandson of an even more evil king - become one of the most devoted followers of YHWH; the Lord? That brings us to one of the key points about the life of King Josiah, and that is:
1. He put God first
In 2 Chronicles 34:3, it explains, “For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father…” This is the one thing that made the difference and prevented him from following in his father’s footsteps.
The scripture says, “he began to seek God”, which means it was a process. At the start, he was just 16 years old and he didn’t really know who God was. However, there were evidently some positive influences in his life; perhaps his mother, or maybe some of the priests. Whatever the case, Josiah knew that God existed and he was determined to seek after God, to seek after truth until he found it. In Jeremiah 29:13, it says “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” This is what Josiah did: he sought God with all his heart, and he found the Lord.
Now what does it mean to seek God? It means putting Him first, above all else. It means striving to understand God’s character; who He truly is. And it means keeping His commands; not out of compulsion, but willingly. As we read a short while earlier in 2 Kings 23:25, Josiah “turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might…” This is exactly what it says in the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which became one of the customary temple prayers and was later recited by all Jews. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” It is the joining of intellect, thoughts and actions to be wholly committed to knowing and serving God.
And this decision that Josiah made to seek after God - at the young age of 16 years - had a remarkable effect on the rest of his life.
In the law given to the Israelites - just before the passage containing the Shema - Moses told them, “You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” (Deut 5:32). It may interest you to know that there is only one king of Israel or Judah who is described in the Bible this way - that he did not turn aside to the right or to the left. And that is King Josiah (2 Kgs 22:2; 2 Chr 34:1).
King Josiah’s dedication to God was evident in his life. All of his actions which are recorded in the Bible can be summarised in this sentence, which forms my second point:
2. He did good and fought against evil
Josiah did not consider that he could hold “private” views about religion and morality, but then operate in the “public” sphere according to a different set of rules. Some people try to do that today - “I have my personal beliefs about right and wrong, but I wouldn’t want to impose it on someone else, or make them uncomfortable by stating my position”. But this does not work. At its core, morality is not a philosophical subject; it is an applied discipline. Like James says, what good is it if you say to someone in need, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” (Jam 5:16) without giving them the things they actually need? Morality is an applied discipline - our actions show what we believe. This is especially the case when someone is in a leadership position; they are expected to set the moral standard for those who follow them.
Josiah’s private views informed every aspect of his public life. His beliefs, his religion was evident in how he lived. Most notably, he recognised that the land was full of idols and altars to false gods - the very thing which God had warned about in the first two of the 10 commandments. So Josiah took it upon himself to personally oversee these idols and altars being torn down, desecrated and ground into dust.
The second thing Josiah did was he recognised that God’s temple lay in ruins. The previous kings of Judah hadn’t taken care of it or repaired it, and now the stone walls were collapsing and the timber beams were rotted through. The whole temple was full of rubbish and even more idols which had accumulated there over the years. Some rooms had been used as impromptu bank vaults and were just full of stashed money. This was meant to be the one appointed place where sacrifices were offered to YHWH, the true God, and it was in a miserable state of disrepair. So Josiah set about collecting the funds and appointing workmen to oversee the temple repairs. He undertook these extensive reforms to re-establish worship of the one true and living God.
It is worth considering: what are the idols in your life? What do these altars to false gods look like for you? And how can you smash them down? This is often not an overnight thing; for Josiah it took more than 6 years.
Conversely, consider what it looks like to “build the temple”, now that we as Christians are called God’s temple - both individually and as a church body. What can you do to build the church and God’s kingdom?
The final thing to highlight was Josiah’s actions toward his subjects:
3. He encouraged others to follow God
King Josiah recognised that as the leader of the people of Judah, he had a duty to encourage his people to find and follow God. Godly servant leaders take their role seriously, because they realise that they are accountable for those under them. Josiah exercised the type of leadership which Peter later wrote about in 1 Peter 5:2-3: “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.”
One key example of Josiah’s leadership was during the repair of the temple, when the book of the law was discovered in one of the temple rooms. The king had his secretary read the book, and it was not good news. These directions from God had been missing for your years - if not centuries - and had just come to light. It spelled out specific warnings against forgetting God and worshipping false gods - which is exactly what the people of Judah had been doing.
Now as soon as Josiah heard this, he tore his clothes and led the way in repenting - both for his own ignorance and on behalf of the people’s ignorance & sins. He sent to the prophetess Huldah to inquire of the Lord and to plead for mercy - taking on the role of a leader to intercede for his people. But beyond this, he gathered together all the people living in Judah and read the book of the law to them, so that they too would realise that they were living in sin and that they would turn back to following God. Again, King Josiah led the way by entering into a covenant to follow the Lord and keep his commandments, followed by the rest of the people. In this instance, Josiah was very successful in setting the example and urging the people to follow God. The Bible tells us that all the days of Josiah, the people “did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.” (2 Chr 34:33b).
Now Josiah did all this even at great personal cost. One of the things he realised when reading the book of the law was that the Israelites were instructed to keep the Passover every year, but this had not been happening for decades. So he announced that they would keep the Passover, as it had been specified in the law, and gave 30,000 lambs from his own personal flock - to be used as Passover lambs for the people. That number of animals represents an incredible financial cost - which he could have easily kept in order to live a much more lavish lifestyle of feasting and luxury. Giving these up represented his wholehearted commitment to God and the people he had been set over. Furthermore, following Josiah’s example, even his government officials did the same - giving the people a further 8,000 animals for the Passover from their personal herds. So we see Josiah - not only helping his people to follow the Lord at his personal cost, but also setting an example for other leaders to follow. And that is another thing that godly leaders do; they facilitate the growth and development of other leaders.
Conclusion
Josiah is remembered as the last good king of Judah. He was someone who stood in the gap between a holy God and an often apathetic or unrepentant people. Because of his intercession as their leader, God opened this “window of mercy” for people to repent and turn from their sins, before the eventual demise of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple in later generations. However, Josiah is even more than that - he is presented as an example of a godly servant leader - someone who put God first in his life, and cared for the wellbeing of his people above his personal desires. In this way, he speaks to all who are called to a position of leadership - but also to every one of us.
The three key aspects of Josiah’s life are:
He put God first
He did good and fought against evil
He encouraged others to follow God
May the Lord give us the wisdom and the strength to do the same.