JOSIAH’S REFORMS & PASSOVER

Young King Josiah has already made a LOT of changes in Judah and Jerusalem. They restored the centrality of Yahweh and removed the idols from the Temple and the city. But in 2 Kings 23 we get more details on that reformation than we did in 2 Chronicles 34. Let’s look at some of these details.

We read that Josiah burned the idols in the Kidron Valley, but it wasn’t just the idols. And he did something particular with the ashes…

“Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the utensils that had been made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the heavenly lights; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley, and carried their ashes to Bethel.”
‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭23‬:‭4‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Even the cups and bowls and knives and everything else used in pagan worship were destroyed. Josiah didn’t allow them to be cleaned up and sold in a yard sale. Nope. Destroyed.

Why would they haul the ashes all the way to Bethel? Well… this is where reading the whole Bible through chronologically is going to really pay off.

Bethel had been a significant location since the day Abraham first built an altar there. It’s where Jacob dreamed of the ladder or stairs to heaven and where he was renamed Israel. (For Americans, Bethel was like Isarel’s Plymouth Rock.) When the nation returned to the land from Egypt, the Ark and the Tabernacle were located at Bethel during the years of the Judges. And that is where King Jeroboam set up one of his golden calves.

On the day Jeroboam took it upon himself to act as a high priest and make an offering to the golden calf at Bethel in a knock-off version of the Feast of Tabernacles, God sent a prophet from Judah to confront him. Josephus says that the prophet’s name was Jadon (Antiq. 8.8.5). We’ll pick up the story from 1 Kings 13…

“Now behold, a man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to burn incense. And he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “Altar, altar, this is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall burn on you.’ Then he gave a sign on the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn to pieces and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.’ ” Now when the king heard the statement of the man of God which he cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But his hand which he had stretched out toward him dried up, and he could not draw it back to himself. The altar also was torn to pieces and the ashes were poured out from the altar, in accordance with the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.”
‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

CAN. YOU. EVEN. IMAGINE!!!

Josiah was named in a 250 year old prophecy. And this prophecy said he would kill the pagan priests and burn their bones on that altar. The sign proving the validity of this prophecy was the spilling of ashes. Perhaps Josiah’s intent in carrying the ashes from Jerusalem to Bethel was to desecrate (and thereby render useless) the infamous altar at Bethel. But whatever his intent, I think it’s amazing.

So Josiah goes to Bethel. We have no idea if he knew about this prophecy. The books of Kings and Chronicles as we know them didn’t exist until during and after the exile – after Josiah’s lifetime, but the historical source documents from which they came most certainly existed. Whether Josiah knew he was fulfilling prophecy or not is immaterial. God knew.

“Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who misled Israel into sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he burned the high place, ground the remains to dust, and burned the Asherah. Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent men and took the bones from the graves, and burned them on the altar and defiled it in accordance with the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, the one who proclaimed these things.

Then he said, “What is this gravestone there that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.” And he said, “Leave him alone; no one is to disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.”
‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭23‬:‭15‬-‭18‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

It took 250 years, but God’s Word came to pass exactly as He said. The bones burned on the altar that day were the remains of the very men who were assisting Jeroboam with that sacrifice. It feels like a scene out of Shakespeare or something.

Josiah obliterated the pagan altars and the priests. And another thing…

“And he tore down the cubicles of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah.”
‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭23‬:‭7‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

No wonder Yahweh was furious. They literally had little rooms where – for a fee – men or women could have ritual sex with a male cult prostitute… IN. THE. TEMPLE!

If you have had a flannel-graph, sanitized, Sunday School idea of Israel being “wicked” you may need to revise it. Jerusalem had become sin city. Even in the temple.

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PASSOVER

Josiah now knows from reading the Torah, that they were supposed to be keeping certain feasts. But they hadn’t been. Not for years. If you look up “Passover” in a concordance, there’s only one mention of it being observed prior to this- going all the way back to the time of Joshua! That was during the reign and reforms of Hezekiah, Josiah’s great-grandfather.

There is a super intriguing verse in the midst of all the Passover prep.

“And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel.” 2 Chronicles‬ ‭35‬:‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The clear implication is that the Ark of the Covenant HAD NOT BEEN IN THE TEMPLE! This is where history and mystery and legend get all mixed up into an Indiana Jones adventure. But one of the basic theories is that Manasseh was SO bad that the Levites took the Ark out of the Temple because they knew Manasseh was about to defile it. Another theory says the Ark had been in Cush (Ethiopia) since the days of Solomon’s meeting with the Queen of Sheba. (Because Solomon was “in his pagan era.”) Whatever is happening, this is a rare text that lets us pinpoint the location of the Ark at a specific time. It’s the last time we will ever see it in the scripture.

😕 Wow. I kinda feel like we should observe a moment of silence for the Ark.

I know. It’s rather sad isn’t it?

😔

Don’t worry. The real one is safe in Heaven. This one was just a copy.

😌 Oh….Hmm…I guess that’s not so bad then.

Well, they celebrated the biggest Passover in Israel’s history since the time of Samuel and finally everything seemed to be back on track. It was a very short time.

North of Israel, the Babylonians had overthrown the Assyrian Empire. (Remember the prophecy of Nahum?) Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt either saw an opportunity to expand his rule into Asia (Josephus) or he went to help the remaining Assyrians fight back against the Babylonians (modern historians). Maybe it was a bit of both. So he raised an army and marched through Israel on his way to fight Nebuchadnezzar II in the Battle of Carchemish.

Josiah gathers an army and goes out to engage the Egyptians. Pharaoh Necho tells him to back off; that he’s not interested in fighting Judah, he’s just passing through. But Josiah wouldn’t back down and he was shot and later died from the wound.

You can imagine how the people mourned; not just for the loss of arguably the BEST king in Israel’s history after David, but also because everyone knew that God said He wouldn’t destroy Judah while Josiah was alive. Now they know destruction is eminent.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote a lament for Josiah and it basically became a national song. Jeremiah also gave a word from Yahweh concerning Egypt and Babylon and their battle. It’s recorded in Jeremiah 46.

As the Egyptians return from defeat, they found Josiah’s son, Jehoahaz as the king of Judah. Pharaoh Necho takes him prisoner, installs his brother Eliakim as king (whom he renames Jehoiakim), and makes Judah a vassal state of Egypt with heavy taxes.

From now on, the doomsday clock ⏰ is counting down to the utter destruction of Jerusalem and Judah.

Ya know what’s interesting? Josiah knew that all of his reforms and repairing the temple weren’t going to turn away the wrath of God. Yet he still did it. He went to all that effort and expense. How many of us would have done the same? Or would we have said, “It’s all gonna be destroyed. Why bother?”

I think he did it from a pure heart to honor the LORD. And honestly, isn’t that the only motive we should have anyway?

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭ESV‬‬