DAY 217: 2 Kings 22–23; 2 Chronicles 34–35

Welcome to 5-Minute Bible, your daily guide for your daily reading. Today's August the 5th, and we'll be looking at 2 Kings 22 -23 and 2 Chronicles 34 -35. Yesterday, Nahum announced that proud Nineveh was going to fall.

Josiah Seeks the Lord After Judah's Rebellion

The Lord is patient, but violent empires can't escape His justice. Mercy welcomes those who humble themselves, but judgment also confronts those who refuse. Today, we're going to return to Judah and we're going to meet young King Josiah, who is seeking the Lord after generations of Judah's rebellion.

The Book of the Law Exposes Judah's Guilt

During the temple repairs, workers discover the Book of the Law. They didn't know it was there, but they found it, and it exposes Judah's guilt. It breaks the king's heart when he reads it, and it ignites serious reform.

Genuine Revival Can Delay Judgment Without Removing Consequences

Yet, attention remains here because genuine revival can postpone judgment without removing the accumulated consequences of generations of rebellion. So, Josiah becomes king at the age of 8, and unlike his father Amnon and grandfather Manasseh's earlier life, he walks in David's faithful path.

Chronicles tells us that as a teenager, he begins seeking God, and in his 20s, he purges Judah of idols and high places and altars. During temple repairs, Hilkiah the priest finds the Book of the Law, and when Shaphan reads it aloud, Josiah tears his clothes.

Huldah Confirms Judah's Coming Judgment

The king realizes that Judah has ignored God's covenant, and they deserve the curses that are actually written in the Book of the Law. Now, Josiah sends officials to inquire of the Lord, and the prophetess Huldah confirms that disaster will come because Judah abandoned God and worshiped idols.

Josiah Renews the Covenant and Destroys Idolatry

But because Josiah humbled himself and wept and listened to the voice of the Lord, he will die before the coming catastrophe happens. So, Josiah gathers the nation, and he reads the covenant publicly, and he pledges obedience to God.

He destroys the idolatrous objects, he removes the corrupt priest, he defiles the pagan worship sites, and he even tears down the altar at Bethel, fulfilling a prophecy that was spoken centuries before.

Josiah Restores the Passover

Then Josiah celebrates the Passover for the first time in years with great care and with massive generosity. Scripture says that no Passover like it had been observed since the days of the judges. But Josiah wasn't perfect.

Josiah's Death Reveals the Limits of His Reform

Later in his life, he confronts Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo, despite being told not to. He's mortally wounded there, and Judah mourns the death of their faithful king. So, like all the kings, he has a sort of a mixed bag.

He's a great king, he follows after David, and yet he also is sinful, just like the rest of the Davidic kings. So, as you read today, I want you to ask the following question. What happens when God's forgotten word is finally heard again?

God's Word Reveals Judah's Reality

First, God's word reveals reality. Josiah doesn't measure Judah by public opinion or tradition or straw polls or prosperity or any of that. He lets the law of God name their sin and announce God's holy standard, which then exposes them for their rebellion.

The Word Produces Humility and Reform

Second, the word of God produces humility. Josiah, when he hears it, he tears his clothes because he understands that revelation demands response, and his response must be nothing short of humility. Third, the Bible and God's word leads us to reform.

The king doesn't admire the scroll or display it as an artifact in a museum and then continue on his life as if nothing had happened. He orders the people worship. It changes their leadership, it changes their public life and their allegiance according to what God has spoken.

Genuine Reformation Cannot Erase Judah's Guilt

So, as you read all of this, I want you to understand that the central tension in these chapters is between real reformation and irreversible judgment. Josiah's repentance is absolutely genuine, and God commends his tender heart.

His reforms are courageous, costly, and thorough, and it even beckons back to former days of the judges and even of David. And yet, 2 Kings says that the Lord's fierce anger does not turn away because Manasseh filled Jerusalem with innocent blood.

Even though his son, Josiah, does what's right, the former actions of his father and the consequences therein have not been removed. And this doesn't make Josiah's faithfulness meaningless by no means.

It just means that judgment has been delayed. Idols have been demolished, Passover is restored, countless people are going to receive the blessings of truthful leadership, and obedience in that way is never wasted, even if it can't ultimately control the direction of history.

Outward Reform Cannot Guarantee Inward Renewal

Outward reform cannot guarantee inward renewal. Josiah commands the nation to covenant faithfulness, and yet later prophets are going to show that many of the hearts during the time of Josiah remain unchanged.

The king's heart was changed, but the people who followed him, not so much. Structures can be cleansed more quickly than desires. A faithful leader can remove an idol from a courtyard without actually removing it from the people's heart.

Josiah Is a Faithful but Fallible King

Josiah's death deepens that tension because he is one of Judah's finest kings, and certainly the finest king in generations, but he's not infallible. At Megiddo, he refuses a warning from the prophets, and then he dies in battle.

Even the reforming son of David cannot carry Judah safely through judgment. And the passage, therefore, calls us to receive Scripture personally. We can possess Bibles, sure. We can inherit sound teaching in our churches, yes.

Receive Scripture Personally and Obey

We can join faithful institutions while remaining deaf to God. The right response is Josiah's listen, humble yourself, repent, and act. And when consequences remain, we have to continue obeying. We don't follow God because obedience is going to guarantee our success.

We follow him because his word is true and because he alone is worthy. And in that way, Josiah points us beyond himself to Jesus, the king who fulfills all of the covenant requirements. Yeah, Josiah hears the law, and he submits to it, even weeps and tears his clothes, but Jesus is not just the one who hears the word.

Jesus Is the Greater King Who Fulfills the Law

He is the word made flesh, and he obeys the Father without failure perfectly until the end. Yeah, Josiah cleanses the temple, but Jesus is the one who tears the temple down and rebuilds it in his own body after three days.

Jesus Becomes the Passover Lamb

Josiah restores Passover by providing sacrificial animals for the people, but Jesus fulfills the Passover by becoming the sacrificial lamb. His blood doesn't merely postpone the judgment for a generation.

Jesus Removes Guilt and Gives New Life

It removes the judgment of all generations who place their trust and faith in him. Josiah is the one who tears his clothes over Judah's guilt. Jesus is the one who had his clothes stripped from him because of our guilt.

The righteous king entered judgment, died outside of Jerusalem, rose again, accomplishing what Josiah's reforms could not. Forgiveness, new hearts, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. And that's why Christians do more than simply recover a neglected text.

Lasting Renewal Comes Through a Better Covenant

Through Scripture, we hear the voice of the word in Jesus. Lasting renewal then requires a better king than Josiah with a better covenant that he brings. So as you read these chapters today, I want you to notice Josiah's tender heart, his decisive obedience, but also the very limitations of his reform.

And tomorrow, Zephaniah is going to speak during the reign of Josiah, and he's going to announce the approaching day of the Lord, and he's going to show why removing public idols was never enough. But with that, read your Bible carefully, devotionally, and joyfully.

May the Lord use his word to sanctify you completely, and we will continue our journey tomorrow. God bless you.