WWUTT 569 Josiah's Reformation?

Josiah’s Reign and Judah’s Decline Before the Law Is Found

Josiah was a righteous king in Judah, but because of the evils that Judah had done before God, he was still going to exile his people, but he would bless Josiah when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Thank you for subscribing, and if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky, and to our listeners in the United States of America, happy Thanksgiving. On Thursday, we study from an Old Testament book, and right now we're in 2 Kings up to chapter 22. Last week, we read about King Manasseh, the most wicked king to have reigned in Judah.

He worshiped false gods, even offered one of his sons as a sacrifice to those false gods and provoked the Lord to anger. God allowed him to be taken over by the Assyrians who took him captive and treated him quite cruelly.

We read about this in 2 Chronicles 33, but they didn't kill Manasseh, and while he was in captivity, he repented. He begged God for forgiveness, and God forgave him, even allowed him to be released and to go back to Judah and reign, where he attempted to reform the evils that he had done worshiping these false gods and also embarked on several building projects, which he was very successful at.

And that's often the sign of God's blessing upon a king is that he he does these building projects. But his reforms only went as far as Jerusalem. The rest of Judah didn't follow suit. There was still worship of these false gods going on.

And in fact, when Ammon, Manasseh's son, would come to reign, he would just worship all of the idols that his father served and worshiped. He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord.

And all of these things provoke the Lord to anger so that we've already seen set in motion how God is going to turn Judah over to the hands of their enemies. Likely the reason that God didn't do that when Manasseh was king was because Manasseh repented.

But we've already seen the prophecy laid down, which happened during the time that Hezekiah was king, that their enemies, the Babylonians, were eventually going to take them over. Today, though, when we're in chapter 22, we're going to read about a righteous king named Josiah, who was eight years old when he began to reign.

And he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adiah of Bozkath. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David, his father.

And he did not turn aside to the right or to the left. In the 18th year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, son of Meshulam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, Go up to Hilkiah, the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people, and let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord repairing the house, that is, to the carpenters and to the builders and to the masons, and let them use it for buying timber and queried stone to repair the house.

But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly. This is verse 8. And Hilkiah, the high priest, said to Shaphan, the secretary, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.

And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan, the secretary, came to the king and reported to the king, Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.

Then Shaphan, the secretary, told the king, Hilkiah, the high priest, has given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. Now, before we get to Josiah's response to the reading of this book, this just kind of goes to show how far from God Judah has fallen, even though they will have these spells in which there will be a righteous king like Hezekiah.

And Hezekiah instituted many reforms in Judah. Nonetheless, Hezekiah did not have a consideration for his posterity for future generations and Josiah being one of those future generations. So things were not set in such a place that Josiah would be familiar with the law of God.

And up until this point, he hasn't ever heard it read before. And that's what's going to happen here, the book of the law being read before Josiah. And that book specifically is the book of Deuteronomy.

That name, Deuteronomy, means second law. And so it's a retelling of the law that had been given in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. And some of those laws that God had laid down for his people were chronicled and spoken again or compiled rather and spoken again to the people in the book of Deuteronomy before that generation went into the promised land.

This was the generation of the children of Israel after their parents who had been exiled to wander in the desert for 40 years. None of them would be allowed to see the promised land, only Caleb and Joshua.

Even Moses wouldn't go into the promised land, but Caleb and Joshua only. So these children were being told about the laws that their parents did not keep and being warned what would happen to them if they did not keep the law, but also told about the blessing of God that would come upon them if they did keep it.

So this is the book that was found there in the temple during a time that some rebuilding and some housekeeping was being done. Then they found Deuteronomy and read it to the king. And verse 11, when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes and the king commanded Hilkiah the priest and Ahikam the son of Shaphan and Achbor son of Micaiah and Shaphan the secretary and Isaiah the king's servant saying, go inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found.

For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us. So Hilkiah the priest and Ahikam and Achbor and Shaphan and Isaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shulam the son of Tikva son of Haras, keeper of the wardrobe.

Now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter and they talked with her. And she said to them, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, tell the man who sent you to me, thus says the Lord, behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands.

Therefore, my wrath will be kindled against this place and it will not be quenched. But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, regarding the words that you have heard because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before the Lord.

When you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse and you have torn your clothes and wet before me, I also have heard you declares the Lord.

Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place. And they brought back word to the king.

The very fact that they went to a prophetess also goes to show how far Judah had fallen from obeying God. Not because the prophetess was a wicked woman, but because this is one of the signs of God's judgment upon his people.

When women are in the position that men are supposed to fill, Isaiah 3 12 says, my people, infants are their oppressors and women rule over them. Oh, my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.

Now, having heard this word from this prophetess, which which was right and good, all indications that we have from her here is that she was a righteous woman. She wasn't somebody wicked. But the position of a prophet is supposed to be filled by a man.

And this is showing how God is already turning his people over to judgment when women are ruling over them instead of men. So after hearing this war, this word from this prophetess, what do you think?

Josiah's response was, would he respond like Hezekiah did? Now, Isaiah told Hezekiah that because of Hezekiah's pride, Judah was going to be turned over to the hands of their enemies. It wouldn't happen during the days of Hezekiah because Hezekiah was otherwise a righteous king and did institute many reforms, brought reformation to Judah and to Jerusalem.

But he did say a future generation of yours is going to be carried away by the Babylonians. Hezekiah's response was, it's all right, as long as I've got peace during my days. Now, it would be very easy for Josiah to respond that same way.

Well, OK, so the rest of the children of Judah are going to get carried away. But hey, at least I'm going to see peace in my day. But we see a very distinct contrast between Hezekiah and Josiah here in his response to the prophetess's words in chapter 23.

Josiah’s Covenant Renewal and the Destruction of Idolatry

Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. And the king went up to the house of the Lord. And with him all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and 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 that had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes with all of his heart and with all of his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.

And all the people joined the covenant. And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven.

He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. And here we see not just a contrast between Josiah's response compared to Hezekiah's, but also between Josiah's response and Manasseh.

When Manasseh brought reform to Judah, he did not destroy the idols. All he did was he removed them from the city and placed them outside the city walls. And then Ammon, his son, reigned and brought all those idols back and worshipped them.

Josiah is obliterating them so that there's no chance that they can be revived and placed in the house of God again. And he takes the ashes to Bethel and he deposed, this is verse 5, deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of heaven.

And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord outside Jerusalem to the brook of Kidron and burned it at the book of Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people.

And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings from Geba to Beersheba.

And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city. However, 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 brothers.

And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or daughter as an offering to Molech. And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance of the house of the Lord by the chamber of Nathan Melech, the chamberlain, which was in the precincts.

And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire and the altars on the roof of the upper chambers of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

He pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook at Kidron. And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chamash, the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.

And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust.

He also burned the Asherah. And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount, 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 that the man of God proclaimed who had predicted these things.

Then he said, What is that monument that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.

And he said, Let him be. Let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger.

He did to them according to all that had that he had done at Bethel. And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

This is an incredibly thorough reform. And in fact, what we have just read here in second Kings chapter 23, starting in verse four and all the way to verse 20, we have seen a summary of everything we have read from first Kings all the way up to this place of all of the evils that had been done in Israel and and in Judah following Solomon, the evils even that Solomon had done because the abominations that he had erected to these false gods after his heart went after his wives and the gods they worshipped rather than after the Lord God.

All of these things we have read here in this chapter that Josiah attempted to reform. He attempted to destroy. He killed the priests. He killed the male cult prostitutes. These were the men prostitutes that slept with other men in Judah.

He destroyed all of that, tried to bring all of this reform into Judah, even though it was said to him that because of the evil that had taken place prior to your reign, God said, I am going to turn my people over to their enemies.

That did not dissuade Josiah from obeying God in everything. It did for Hezekiah. Hezekiah was not obedient to the Lord, did not care for future generations. Josiah had a heart that chased after God, had a heart like David, his father, and he destroyed all these places.

Notice here that it also says that he defiled Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Moloch. That was what Ahaz did and Manasseh when they offered their children as sacrifices to these false gods, and this caused the rest of Judah to do the same thing, following after the example of their kings who had done this.

Moloch in Hebrew means the God of shameful sacrifice or the king of shameful sacrifice, and surely it was the most shameful sacrifice. Doing what God had explicitly said was not to be done. In Deuteronomy chapter 18, beginning in verse 9, when you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.

There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering. Anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination before the Lord.

In Leviticus chapter 20 verses 1 -5 we read the following,. Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Moloch shall surely be put to death.

The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people because he has given one of his children to Moloch to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name.

And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Moloch and do not put him to death, then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him, in whoring after Moloch.

My friends, the worship of Moloch continues to this day and it happens through the horrid murderous practice of abortion. Children who are being offered as sacrifices to this false god. We are told explicitly in the scriptures in Proverbs chapter 6 that the Lord hates hands that shed innocent blood and he will judge this sin as he has before.

So what is it that we are to do? Are we supposed to respond like Josiah? Do we need to go tear down all the abortion mills and then put the abortion doctors to death? No, we can't respond that way because abortion is protected in this land.

And so that would just turn everybody who responds in that way to criminals. We can't cleanse the land of the sins that they are currently practicing and offering up children to false gods. Only Christ can do that.

We must preach the gospel and Jesus Christ will transform the hearts of people all over this country. As we preach the gospel, we pray for repentance. We pray that God would have mercy on the evils that we have done and reform will happen.

It'll be a reform by the spirit of God. And then as the hearts of the people change, the laws will change. Those altars where sacrifice is being raised up to false gods will be torn down. Those abortion doctors will be put on trial for murder and anybody else that commits abortion as well.

And that will happen by a move of the spirit. Be assured that the wages of sin is still death. And just as God said in the book of Deuteronomy that anyone who burns a son or a daughter will be put to death, that is surely going to happen for those who are guilty of the sin of abortion when they stand before God in judgment on Judgment Day.

The only thing that can save you is faith in Jesus Christ. If you are guilty of the sin of abortion, I encourage you to repent before God. Because as I quoted from 1 John 1 yesterday, if we ask forgiveness for our sins, God is faithful and just to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Jesus Christ has paid for your sin on the cross. And you will be saved from even wickedness like this. I do believe that God loves even the smallest of children, even those who are unborn. And there will be in heaven many children who were killed or who died while they were in the womb.

If you want to see your son or daughter again, the one that you killed in your womb by abortion, repent before Christ. Be reconciled to God. He will save you. And you will be with your child again in glory by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Thanksgiving, Repentance, and the Gospel Hope for Sinners

We've not made it all the way through chapter 23 here, but that's where we will pick up next week, the mid part of chapter 23, as we finish reading about Josiah and what ultimately ends up happening to Judah.

We will conclude our study of the book of 2 Kings next week. Let us pray. Our Lord, we are certainly undeserving of the mercy and grace that you have shown us through your son, Jesus Christ. But on a day like today, a day that we are remembering Thanksgiving, all of the blessings that you have given to us, we praise you first and foremost for the salvation that we have been given in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

And I pray on a day like this, that it would cause the hearts of people everywhere, not just Americans, but all over the world to consider what it is that we have to be thankful for and realize even in that process that we have sinned against God and we have life itself to be thankful for because you didn't snatch the life right out of us while we were sleeping last night, even though that's what it is that we deserve.

And so may the hearts of people everywhere turn to the Lord and seek your forgiveness and repent before you. And may you grant them a heart of repentance, that they would walk in a way that is upright and worthy of our Savior Christ.

Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Give us the boldness to preach the gospel of Christ, for it is only by the gospel that wicked men and women can be saved. Thank you that the gospel has come to us and help us to be carriers of this message that Jesus Christ died to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

It is to my great God and King, Jesus Christ, in whom I pray, Amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .wutt .com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study, When We Understand the Text.