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the courage of Josiah

2 Kings 23:1-30 (JDV).

2 Kings 23:1 So the king sent messengers, and they gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him.
2 Kings 23:2 Then the king went to Yahveh’s temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets — all the people from the youngest to the oldest. He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in Yahveh’s temple.
2 Kings 23:3 Next, the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant in Yahveh’s presence to follow Yahveh and to keep his commands, his decrees, and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul in order to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to the covenant.
2 Kings 23:4 Then the king commanded the high priest Hilkiah and the priests of the second rank and the doorkeepers to bring out of Yahveh’s sanctuary all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the stars in the sky. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
2 Kings 23:5 Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and all the stars in the sky.
2 Kings 23:6 He brought out the Asherah pole from Yahveh’s temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley, beat it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.
2 Kings 23:7 He also tore down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were in Yahveh’s temple, in which the women were weaving tapestries for Asherah.
2 Kings 23:8 Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the city gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate).
2 Kings 23:9 The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of Yahveh in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.
2 Kings 23:10 He defiled Topheth, which is in Ben Himmon Valley so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
2 Kings 23:11 He did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They had been at the entrance of Yahveh’s temple in the precincts by the chamber of Nathan-melech, the eunuch. He also burned the chariots of the sun.
2 Kings 23:12 The king tore down the altars that the kings of Judah had made on the roof of Ahaz’s upper chamber. He also tore down the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of Yahveh’s temple. Then he smashed them there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.
2 Kings 23:13 The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the abhorrent idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
2 Kings 23:14 He broke the sacred pillars into pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, then filled their places with human bones.
2 Kings 23:15 He even tore down the altar at Bethel and the high place that had been made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He burned the high place, crushed it to dust, and burned the Asherah.
2 Kings 23:16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mountain. He sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar. He defiled it according to the word of Yahveh proclaimed by the man of God who proclaimed these things.
2 Kings 23:17 Then he said, “What is this monument I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar at Bethel.”
2 Kings 23:18 So he said, “Let him rest. Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So, they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.
2 Kings 23:19 Josiah also removed all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to anger Yahveh. Josiah did the same things to them that he had done at Bethel.
2 Kings 23:20 He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of those high places, and he burned human bones on the altars. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
2 Kings 23:21 The king commanded all the people, “Observe the Passover of Yahveh your God as written in the book of the covenant.”
2 Kings 23:22 No such Passover had ever been observed from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah.
2 Kings 23:23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, Yahveh’s Passover was observed in Jerusalem.
2 Kings 23:24 In addition, Josiah eradicated the mediums, the spiritists, household idols, images, and all the abhorrent things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this in order to carry out the words of the law that were written in the book that the priest Hilkiah found in Yahveh’s temple.
2 Kings 23:25 Before him there was no king like him who turned to Yahveh with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him.
2 Kings 23:26 In spite of all that, Yahveh did not turn from the fury of his intense burning anger, which burned against Judah because of all the affronts with which Manasseh had angered him.
2 Kings 23:27 Because Yahveh had said, “I will also remove Judah from my presence just as I have removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, that I have chosen, and the temple about which I said, ‘My name will be there.'”
2 Kings 23:28 The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.
2 Kings 23:29 During his reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched up to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to confront him, and at Megiddo when Neco saw him he killed him.
2 Kings 23:30 From Megiddo his servants carried his dead body in a chariot, brought him into Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the common people took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

the courage of Josiah

Of all the reforms of the kings, none was more comprehensive than that of Josiah. Reading through the list, one gets an idea how syncretistic Judah had become. Every aspect of their society had been permeated by paganism. Reading and hearing the word of God had this effect on the king and his leaders: it showed them for who they had been. They became aware of how corrupt and offensive to the LORD their society was. What followed was a long campaign to clean up. They covenanted to do this – not because they had hopes of being spared from God’s wrath, but because they realized that they deserved it.

LORD, open your word to us. Show us who we really are in your sight, and give us the courage of Josiah to do something about it.