Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Reading

There were only three kings who were said to have walked in the all the ways of David.

Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah.

But among these three, only Josiah received the favorable comment that ‘nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left.’

Background

Became king at 8 years old and reigned for 31 years (640-609BC)

Sought the Lord in the 8th year of his reign

Purged idolatry in the 12th year of his reign

Discovered the book of the Law in the 18th year of his reign

Celebrated the Passover in the 18th year of his reign

Josiah carried out the last religious reformation in Judah

Manasseh and Amon had nullified the religious reforms of Hezekiah

The kingdom of Judah was filled with idols and places of idolatry

Distinctive characteristics of Josiah’s religious reformation

Josiah’s religious reforms were nationwide and thorough

Josiah’s religious reforms destroyed all of the idols

Josiah’s religious reforms fulfilled the prophecy ~280 years ago

Josiah’s religious reforms were nationwide

Josiah acknowledged the ethnic oneness of the southern and northern kingdoms, even though by this time much of the northern kingdom had been deported out, and the King of Assyria had imported in many foreigners to occupy the cities.

Josiah still considered the whole promised land as sacred.

He did not compromise with the boundary which God had promised to Abraham.

Josiah’s religious reforms fulfilled the prophecy ~280 years ago

Josiah discovered the book of the law and ratified a covenant

In the 18th year of his reign, the high priest Hilkiah discovered the book of the law in the temple and brought it to Josiah.

The word ‘Book of the Law’ is seper hattora, which generally refers to the first five books of the Bible, from Genesis to Deuteronomy.

They read from the book of the law and decided to ratify a covenant.

Josiah’s reforms were true reforms because they were guided by the Word of God.

We must worship God not according to how we want or think it should be, but according to how His Word dictates.

This is because righteousness is not an impersonal concept, but based on who God is morally.

A proper attitude toward the Word of God brings about reform.

Josiah kept the Passover

The Bible describes Josiah’s Passover as the greatest among all the Kings Period.

Josiah’s obedience to the Word of God went so deep, but the Bible describes him in an unexpected way.

The Bible says that he was a king who turned to the Lord with all his heart, soul, and might.

The word ‘turn’ here is shab and means ‘to turn around’ or ‘to repent.’

What we might’ve expected to see is that Josiah obeyed the Lord with all he had.

But instead it says that Josiah turned to God with all he had.

See, we might obey the Lord with all our strength, but if it remains as that, we will never be righteous.

Why is that the case?

Because our strength isn’t enough.

Paul Washer said that our problem is not that we’re too weak, but that we do not recognize our weakness.

That’s why the greatest men and women that has been most used of God throughout Christian history seem to have only one thing in common: a recognition of their weakness.

Weakness is not a hindrance to power; weakness is the catalyst to spiritual power.

The problem is that we don’t recognize that we’re weak.

Our weakness ought to drive us to God.

And this applies to those of us who teach in the church as well.

We’re weak, and God forbid if we don’t recognize our weakness and try to preach on our own strength.

‘I’d rather be able to pray than to be a great preacher; Jesus Christ never taught His disciples how to preach, but only how to pray.’ - D. L. Moody

Josiah’s death

What we have in the story of Josiah’s death is a bit of a jaw dropper.

He refuses to believe that God spoke to Pharaoh Neco, who is on a mission to attack Assyria.

So he puts on a disguise, goes to battle, and dies by arrowshot.

It’s a mediocre ending for such a heavyweight king.

But this just goes to show that without God’s Word, not only Josiah, but all of us are weak and frail.

And when we go against God’s Word, we lose our strength.

Our weakness must catapult us to the Word of God in prayer.

Redemptive-historical significance of Josiah’s religious reformation

We’ve had a brief look at the life of Josiah, at how he reformed Judah and even the territory of the northern kingdom, destroying all the idols and celebrating the Passover.

But inspite of all this, the sins of Manasseh were too great, and Judah would face the Lord’s wrath.

So we can ask the question, what did the religious reformation accomplish?

It seems unclear at first, but when we take a step back, we can start to see how God prepared for the restoration of Judah even before enacting His punishment.

Here’s a look at the timeline.

640 BC — Josiah reigns

622 BC — Religious reformation (18th year)

609 BC — Josiah dies.

Jehoahaz reigns for 3 months.

Jehoiakim reigns.

605 BC — First deportation to Babylon (3rd year of Jehoiakim)

What we see here is that Josiah’s religious reformation took place about 17 years before the first deportation to Babylon.

And a very well known teenager of about 17 years old was taken into Babylon at the time.

And it says that Daniel was in Babylon until the first year of King Cyrus.

And in the first year of King Cyrus, someone tells King Cyrus about the prophecy of Isaiah, written long ago.

And so King Cyrus’ first decree as king was to release the Israelites from their captivity.

It doesn’t make any sense other than the fact that Daniel had such great faith.

And that faith was inherited by Daniel from his king, the king Josiah, who began his religious reformation at the time when Daniel was born.

Daniel had inherited Josiah’s faith, and so we can say that Josiah’s religious reformation caused the Israelites to be freed from Babylonian captivity many years later.

Josiah had no way of knowing this would happen.

Conclusion

The story of King Josiah is an exhortation for those of us who realize how weak we are.

We must turn to the Lord with all our heart, our soul, and might.

We must turn to God’s Word and let His Word reform our lives.

We must cast down our idols and turn to face the Lord in humility.

And when we do so, when there’s a religious reformation in our own personal lives, God will use us for amazing works that we cannot even imagine.