Josiah is now king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah and he was eight years old when he became king and reigned for thirty-one years, 640 B.C. to 609 B.C, 2 Chronicles 34:1. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah and she was from Bozkath, 2 Kings 22:1. Josiah did what was right in God’s eyes and loved and obeyed God as David did, 2 Chronicles 34:2 / 2 Kings 22:2 / Acts 13:22.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He was one of the best, if not the best, of all the Jewish kings since the time of David. He began well, continued well, and ended well.’
In the eighth year of his reign, he began to seek the God of his father David, 2 Chronicles 34:3. Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down and he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them and smashed the Asherah poles and the idols, 2 Chronicles 34:3-4 / 2 Kings 23:4.
Baal and Asherah worship, was seriously promoted by Ahab and Jezebel and had been a problem in Israel for many years, 2 Kings 11:17-20 / 2 Kings 18:4-5 / 2 Kings 14:23-24 / 2 Kings 16:32. By the time Josiah became king, God’s temple had essentially become a place for Baal worship.
He took the Asherah pole and removed it not just from the temple but from Jerusalem and burned it, 2 Kings 23:4. Male and female prostitution was involved in Baal worship and so, he tore down the male shrine prostitutes, and the place where the women did weaving for Asherah, 2 Kings 23:5-7 / Ezekiel 8:14 / Ezekiel 16:16 / Amos 2:8 / Amos 5:26.
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, 2 Chronicles 34:6-7.
Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense and he broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate, 2 Kings 23:8.
Notice that ‘the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the LORD,’ 2 Kings 23:9. The reason they didn’t come was because their income came from those who worshipped in the high places. The Levites who had accepted positions at the high places were brought back to Jerusalem and maintained there, but they were never again accepted as true priests with access to the Lord’s altar, Ezekiel 44:10-14.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘As these priests had offered sacrifices on the high places, though it was to the true God, yet they were not thought proper to be employed immediately about the temple but as they were acknowledged to belong to the priesthood, they had a right to their support; therefore a portion of the tithes, offerings, and unleavened bread, shew-bread, was appointed to them for their support. Thus they were treated as priests who had some infirmity which rendered it improper for them to minister at the altar, Leviticus 21:17 / Leviticus 21:22-23.’
He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek, 2 Kings 23:10.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The word Topheth, or Topher, variously derived from toph, ‘a drum’ or ‘tabour,’ because the cries of the sacrificed children were drowned by the noise of such instruments; or, from a root taph or toph, meaning ‘to burn’, was a spot in the valley of Hinnom. The later Jewish kings, Manasseh and Amon or, perhaps, Ahaz, 2 Chronicles 28:3, had given it over to the Moloch priests for their worship; and here, ever since, the Moloch service had maintained its ground and flourished.’
He removed from the entrance to the temple of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun and we are told that they were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek, 2 Kings 23:11. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun, 2 Kings 23:10.
He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the LORD and he removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley, 2 Kings 23:12. There’s no doubt that Ahab was more than likely the first person to introduce human sacrifice to the false god Molek, 2 Kings 16:3 / 2 Kings 19:1-9.
Josiah also desecrated the high places, 2 Kings 23:13 / 1 Kings 11:7. Remember God told Israel during the days of Joshua that these high places were to be totally destroyed, Numbers 33:52 / Leviticus 26:27-30.
These structures which were originally built by Solomon were still in existence, this is some four hundred years later. Israel had obviously become entrapped in the worship of false gods and took pleasure in satisfying the sensual lusts through them.
No one knows where the ‘Hill of Corruption’, 2 Kings 23:13, is located but some have suggested it’s a reference to the Mount of Olives which was located east of Jerusalem. Josiah totally destroys everything that had anything to do with Molek throughout the land, 2 Kings 23:13-14.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following, concerning the human bones, 2 Kings 23:14.
‘The Law attached uncleanness to the ‘bones of men,’ no less than to actual corpses, Numbers 19:16. We may gather from this and other passages, 2 Kings 23:20 / 1 Kings 13:2, that the Jews who rejected the Law were as firm believers in the defilement as those who adhered to the Law.’
Josiah continued in his restoration of the land by going beyond the borders of Judah to Bethel, 2 Kings 23:15. It appears that he has now taken charge of the Northern Kingdom of Israel since they have now been taken into captivity, 2 Kings 17:5-6. The altar, which was destroyed here, 2 Kings 23:15, was the altar that Jeroboam had originally built to encourage the northern tribes to stay away from Jerusalem.
The destroying of the altar was the fulfilment of God’s prophecy to Jeroboam, 2 Kings 23:16. God’s prophet actually names Josiah as the one who would destroy it, 1 Kings 13:1-3 / 1 Kings 13:30-31. Josiah was totally unaware of the fulfilment of the prophecy, but the citizens of the place, who remembered it well, told him about it, 2 Kings 23:17.
We read of the same kind of prophecy concerning the name of Cyrus, Isaiah 44:28-45:1. Although there were many false prophets around before and during this time and many unrighteous kings before Josiah came to the throne, many of the priests remained faithful to God and His Word. He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 34:5.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following concerning the purging.
‘Jeremiah’s first prophecies, Jeremiah 2-3, appear to have been coincident with Josiah’s earlier efforts to uproot idolatry, and must have greatly strengthened his hands.’
After enquiring about the tomb, Josiah tells them to leave it alone, and don’t let anyone disturb his bones and so, they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria, 2 Kings 23:17-18 / 1 Kings 13:32.
Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the LORD’s anger, 2 Kings 23:19. He then slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them and then goes back to Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 34:7 / 2 Kings 23:20.
Shaphan, 2 Chronicles 34:8 / 2 Kings 22:3, was the father of Jeremiah’s friend Ahikam, Jeremiah 26:24, and the grandfather of Gedaliah, who was made governor of Judea by the Babylonians after the fall of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 25:22. Shaphan and Nathan-Melek’s, 2 Kings 23:11, names also appear on ancient records of those who lived during these times.
Hilkiah, 2 Chronicles 34:9 / 2 Kings 22:4, was the father, or grandfather of Seriah, Nehemiah 11:11, who was high priest at the time of the captivity, and an ancestor of Ezra the scribe. Hilkiah was a priest, and the grandfather of Ezra, 1 Chronicles 6:13-14 / 1 Chronicles 9:11 / Ezra 7:1. Hilkiah’s name appears also on the seal of another son named Hanan.
Josiah wanted some repair work done on the temple, 2 Chronicles 34:8-9 / 2 Kings 22:4, and so he set about raising the funds needed for the repairs, similar to the way Jehoash did many years ago, 2 Kings 12:9-15. The doorkeepers collected from the people and they entrusted it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple, 2 Chronicles 34:9 / 2 Kings 22:4-5.
They are to pay the workers who repair the temple of the LORD, the carpenters, the builders and the masons and also they are to purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple, 2 Chronicles 34:10-11 / 2 Kings 22:5-6. Notice they didn’t account for the money entrusted to them, because they are honest in their dealings, 2 Chronicles 34:12 / 2 Kings 22:7.
The workers laboured faithfully under the direction of Jahath and Obadiah, Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, descended from Kohath, 2 Chronicles 34:12. The Levites were all were skilled in playing musical instruments and they had charge of the labourers and supervised all the workers from job to job, 2 Chronicles 34:12-13. Some of the Levites were secretaries, scribes and gatekeepers, 2 Chronicles 34:13.
Josiah makes a lot of effort in restoring the neglected temple, much as his predecessor Hezekiah had done, 2 Chronicles 29.
Hilkiah discovers ‘the Book of the Law’, 2 Chronicles 34:14-15 / 2 Kings 22:8. Jeremiah 1:1-2, tells us that Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, which tells us that Jeremiah began his ministry during the reign of King Joash.
2 Chronicles, tells us that Josiah’s reforms had already been going forward for several years. He began the purging of the temple and Jerusalem in his twelfth year, six full years before the events in 2 Kings 22:8, and the repairs on the temple mentioned in 2 Kings 22:9, were probably commenced at the same time.
Although each king was supposed to have a copy of the Book of the Law, Deuteronomy 17:18-20 / Deuteronomy 31:9-13, we have no idea how long they have been without the Law of Moses, that is, the first five books of the Old Testament, but because only those portions that referred to the responsibilities of the king were immediately read before Josiah, 2 Chronicles 34:16-18 / 2 Kings 22:10.
Remember nobody had seen the Book of the Law for years and so when Josiah heard the word of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes, 2 Chronicles 34:19 / 2 Kings 22:11 / Genesis 37:29 / Job 1:20 / 1 Kings 21:27. In others words, God’s Word moved him to repentance, and as a result of his repentance, the whole of Israel was deeply moved toward God again.
Josiah commands the priests Ahikam, Akbor, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant to speak to God on behalf of himself, the people and all of Judah about what was written in the book, 2 Chronicles 34:20 / 2 Kings 22:12.
The good news is that Josiah didn’t just go out of his way to get Israel to worship and obey God how they were supposed to in the first place, 2 Chronicles 34:21 / 2 Kings 22:13, he actually went on to destroy anything which involved idolatry and the worshipping of false gods.
Hilkiah the priest and others went to speak to the prophet Huldah, who was Shallum’s wife, who lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter, 2 Chronicles 34:22 / 2 Kings 22:14. It should be noted that other prophets were now on the scene at this time.
Prophets like Zephaniah, Zephaniah 1:1, and Jeremiah, Jeremiah 22:15-16, who were both warning God’s people about their upcoming exile into Babylon. It’s possible that they went to Huldah because she was closest to them, but she is a prophetess, Exodus 15:20 / Numbers 12:2 / Judges 4:4, and they go to inquire of the Lord.
Priestley, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It pleased God to distinguish several women with the spirit of prophecy, as well as other great attainments, to show that in his sight, and especially in things of a spiritual nature, there is no essential pre-eminence in the male sex, though in some things the female be subject to the male.’
It’s interesting because we don’t know what they asked but we do know they did enquire about the newly discovered Book of Law.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following, concerning 2 Chronicles 34:23-24 / 2 Kings 22:15-16.
‘The ‘words’ here intended are no doubt the threatening’s of the Law, particularly those of Leviticus 26:16-39, and Deuteronomy 28:15-68. Josiah had probably only heard a portion of the Book of the Law; but that portion had contained those awful denunciations of coming woe. Hence, Josiah’s rending of his clothes, 2 Kings 22:11, and his hurried message to Huldah.’
Huldah tells them that God says that He will bring disaster upon the Southern Kingdom of Judah because of their apostasy, 2 Chronicles 34:23-25 / 2 Kings 22:15-17 / Jeremiah 19:13 / Jeremiah 32:29 / 2 Kings 21:3, but the disaster wouldn’t come anytime during the reign of Josiah. God delayed judgment on Josiah as he did with Ahab, who responded to a word of warning with a kind of repentance, 1 Kings 21:25-29.
Josiah has now received news about this upcoming disaster twice, once from God’s Word and now from God’s prophet, 2 Chronicles 34:26-28 / 2 Kings 22:18-20. And so, so they took her answer back to Josiah, 2 Chronicles 34:28 / 2 Kings 22:20. Although Josiah had religiously cleaned up Judah by the standards of God’s Word, sadly his descendants went back to idolatry and undone everything he had achieved.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘From the account in the above chapter, where we have this business detailed, we find that Josiah should not have meddled in the quarrel between the Egyptian and the Assyrian kings, for God had given a commission to the former against the latter; but he did it in error, and suffered for it. But this unfortunate end of this pious man does not at all impeach the credit of Huldah, he died in peace in his own kingdom. He died in peace with God, and there was neither war nor desolation in his land, nor did the king of Egypt proceed any farther against the Jews during his life, 2 Chronicles 35:21-24.’
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The death of Josiah in battle, 2 Kings 23:29, is in verbal contradiction to this prophecy, but not in real opposition to its spirit, which is simply that the pious prince who has sent to inquire of the Lord, shall be gathered to his fathers before the troubles come upon the land which are to result in her utter desolation. Now those troubles were to come, not from Egypt, but from Babylon; and their commencement was not the invasion of Necho in 608 B.C., but that of Nebuchadnezzar three years later. Thus was Josiah ‘taken away from the evil to come,’ and died ‘in peace’ before his city had suffered attack from the really formidable enemy.’
Hilkiah the priest discovered ‘the Book of the Law’ in the temple, 2 Chronicles 34:14-15 / 2 Kings 22:8-10, and informs Josiah that he found it. Josiah now calls the people together to read it out, 2 Chronicles 34:29-30 / 2 Kings 23:1-2. This law was supposed to be read out to the people throughout history, Deuteronomy 31:9-13.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The present passage is strong evidence that the Jewish kings could read. The solemn reading of the Law, a practice commanded in the Law itself once in seven years, Deuteronomy 31:10-13, had been intermitted, at least for the last 75 years, from the date of the accession of Manasseh.’
Because they didn’t have a copy of the Book of the Covenant, 2 Kings 23:2, they were obviously ignorant of God’s law, Hosea 4:6. It is also possible that they didn’t look hard enough in the first place to find a copy of the law.
Because Josiah read out all the words of the Book of the Covenant, he personally stood before the people and read from the Word of God, 2 Chronicles 34:31. He gets everyone else to stand as a demonstration of their agreement with the covenant, Genesis 15:17 / Jeremiah 34:18 / 1 Samuel 8:11-17 / 1 Samuel 10:25 / Joshua 24. In other words, he assumed the position of spiritual leadership just like Joshua did many years before him, Joshua 24:15.
After the covenant was renewed with the people, Deuteronomy 5:2, everyone ‘pledged’ themselves to the covenant, 2 Chronicles 34:32 / 2 Kings 23:3-4. The K.J.V. uses the word, ‘stood’.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The covenant renewal was expressed as follows.
1. In general. To walk after Jehovah, to have no gods besides him.
2. To take his law for the regulation of their conduct.
3. In particular. To bend their whole heart and soul to the observance of it, so that, they might not only have religion without, but, piety within.
To this all the people stood up, thus giving their consent, and binding themselves to obedience.’
It was very important that everyone pledged to keep the covenant, as this would make it easier for Josiah to get the temple back for God’s use only. It would make it easier to remove all those places of idol worship and to get rid of all the priests of Baal from the land if they didn’t repent.
Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the God and as long as he lived, they did not fail to follow God, 2 Chronicles 34:33.
Although Josiah had religiously cleaned up Judah by the standards of God’s Word, sadly, after his death, his descendants went back to idolatry and undone everything he had achieved.