To understand King Josiah we do well to remember the dynamics of the territory of Judah and of the Middle East as a whole. The Middle East is the crossroads between Africa, Asia, and Europe. Every major empire that has ever developed on one of those continents and wanted to expand has had to control the Middle East. It has changed hands many times throughout history. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah are in the western end of the Middle East, but not quite to the Mediterranean Sea. They were always small, and in terms of military or economic power, completely insignificant in the wider world. Further, both are inland kingdoms. They did not have any real coastline along the Mediterranean Sea. Though called the “Promised Land” the land isn’t really all that great. It’s adequate for survival, but not good enough for any nation based there to ever actually flourish. It’s also not desirable enough in its own right for any other nation to want to come and conquer it.
As
empires rose and fell around them, the little kingdoms of Israel and Judah were
often overlooked. They just weren’t
worth conquering. Often an invading army
would just pass on through. And quite
often they existed as a vassal state to one of the surrounding empires.
It
was only during the time between major empires that the Israelites ever
flourished or were really independent. Such
a time happened during the reign of King David and Solomon. That was the 10th Century
B.C.E. A similar thing happens during
the time of King Josiah, in the 7th Century B.C.E. If you were in worship last week you’ll
remember we read about King Hezekiah who was described as good; and most
especially, trusting, of God. During his
reign in Judah the Assyrian Empire was growing and flexing its muscles. It conquered the northern kingdom of Israel
and seriously threatened the southern kingdom of Judah. But despite laying siege to Jerusalem the
Assyrians decide to abandon their attempt.
That was the 8th Century B.C.E.
By
the time we get to today’s Bible readings over 100 years has passed. By then the Assyrian Empire to the northeast
had declined and was on the verge of collapse.
The Egyptian Empire to the south west is weak as well, although probably
exerting influence over the region. And
the Babylonian Empire in the east is on the rise to becoming a superpower.
Enter
King Josiah. He comes to power at eight
years of age after his father is assassinated.
Presumably he had some very good advisers by his side because he appears
to have led very very well. He begins to
expand the kingdom in all directions.
Archaeology gives us evidence of the southern limits of his
expansion. The northern limits are hard
to draw, but he may have expanded the nation to almost the full size of what it
was under King David. He certainly
regains control of most of the territory of Israel conquered by the
Assyrians. There is also evidence to
show that he actually expanded the nation all the way to the Mediterranean
Sea. And so even though Josiah is hardly
a mighty king (the nation under David really wasn’t all that big either) he certainly
controls more than King Hezekiah did, which during the Assyrian invasion was
probably down to about twelve acres!
Along
with Josiah’s territory expansion he embarks on the most thorough reformation
and purification of Judah ever. He
utterly destroys religious sites to foreign deities. He kills their leaders and he removes from
office all those Jewish priests who had led worship in places other than the
Jerusalem temple. While people often
call David the best king, and last week we saw Hezekiah described as the king
who trusted God the most, 2 Kings 23:25 describes Josiah as, “Before him there
was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his
soul, and with all his might, according to the law of Moses; nor did any like him
arise after him.” If this is true then
Josiah rightfully deserves the title of the greatest of all the kings of Judah.
Central
to his faithfulness is what we read today.
During repairs and renovations of the Jerusalem temple a book of the law
is found; presumably hidden. Biblical
scholars believe this book is an early version of what we now call
Deuteronomy. Some suggest it was
possibly the whole of the Torah, what we have as the first five books of the
Bible – Genesis through Deuteronomy. I
suppose that’s possible, although those writings certainly were in a very
different form from what we have today.
Whatever the case, exactly what it was and how old it was is impossible
to tell. Quite possibly it was faithful
writings hidden from Josiah’s grandfather, who is described as a particularly
bad and evil king. Manassah was his name
and he reigned for 55 years.
Whatever
the case, these found writings give Josiah something solid to go on for his
reforms: he now has evidence to create a “right” way to worship. He now has a set of religious laws by which
to run the nation. He knows how the
temple is to operate and who is supposed to operate it. He becomes even more zealous for faithfulness
in his government and from the citizenship.
Josiah seems to know that God is fed up with the history of
unfaithfulness. He is determined to rid
the nation of problems once and for all.
I
should note that praiseworthy as Josiah’s efforts may appear, in our age of
pluralism plus a separation of church and state, we might be disturbed. Under Josiah it was government imposing
religious law. In some places the law
was very gracious and forgiving. In
other places, very strict. We Americans
aren’t used to the government telling us that it’s rules are God’s rules, no
questions can be asked.
Overall
though, Josiah is a refreshing model of leadership. Where he may have gone too far it was done in
good faith. Rarely does someone with
political and economic power consult with both political and religious leaders
and truly launch a campaign to improve the faithfulness of the whole
nation. Josiah is strong, courageous,
and yet there appears to be a sense of forgiveness and kindness to him. There appears to be no trace of selfishness
in Josiah. He does not use religion to
serve his own interests. He is truly
interested in serving faithfully. Next
week will look at his one and only recorded mistake, which will be his
downfall. And we will explore some truly
angering theology that comes from his reign.
But for now let’s discover some amazing hope.
Josiah’s
grandfather, bad king Manasseh, led for 55 years and made a huge mess of
things. Josiah’s father, Amon, became
king at age 22. He reigned two years
before being assassinated by his servants.
That sounds horrible, but it may have been a good thing. Apparently he was headed on a path even worse
than Manasseh. The servants weren’t
going to let that happen. Then along
comes Josiah, king at age 8, and at age 16 begins a massive reform movement.
In
one generation we have a national transformation from despair and corruption to
health and hope. A wicked generation,
doomed to failure, was being succeeded by a reforming, virtuous one. It was an opportunity for a new unfettered
life. Things were going well. The future looked promising. The nation was growing in not only territory
but also in independence.
I
would not advocate for our nation’s government to operate in a way that would
impose Christianity upon its citizens the way Josiah was able to impose faith
upon his people. However, it would be
wonderful if in our nation, which is a nation of hatred, division, racism,
injustice, consumption, greed, and more, the truth of God’s grace could
suddenly take root. I know we’re deep in
a political season. Don’t mistake me and
think I believe that the results of this next election could bring an end to
such things. For no such change will
come about from our leadership. It must
begin in the hearts and minds of the population.
I
don’t mean to sound naïve or romantic, for the improvements in Josiah’s time
weren’t easy or fun, but our prayers should be for a time when God’s love can
truly be real in our hearts and in the hearts of our communities.
As
the story goes on with King Josiah we are reminded of what has been true all
along, the whole thing is in God’s hands.
The same goes for us and our future.
Nevertheless, whether massive improvements come to the hearts and minds
of the American population or not, we ourselves have been saved by God’s
grace. And we ourselves are called to
live that grace in all that we do. It
doesn’t matter if we ourselves create sweeping reforms or not. It doesn’t matter whether people appreciate
us or not. We remain agents of God’s
grace witnessing to his goodness in a world of darkness that desperately needs
light.
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