King Josiah - A King Without a People

The King and His Court

This week I remembered a story that my father told about a softball team that had only 4 players. They had a pitcher, catcher, first baseman, and a short stop. They were called The King and His Court. It started with Eddie Feigner in 1946 and they would play over 10,000 games over the next 65 years. The Washington Post described Eddie as “the greatest pitcher who ever lived”. The King and His Court had 9,743 victories, 141,517 strikeouts, 930 no-hitters and 238 perfect games. Feigner only allowed 1 homerun in his whole career. In 1967 Feigner appeared in a celebrity game against many Major League Baseball players. In the game, Feigner struck out Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Maury Willis, and Harmon Kellebrow all in a row.

Talent is entertaining, especially in sports or music. For a 4-man team to take on 9-man teams, that is a big challenge and would be fun to watch. In most situations, though, watching a one-man show is not so entertaining. Andrew Carnegie said,

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.

Leadership is more than being talented, being born a king, or having the right training. The king that we are looking at today seems to have everything that he needs – except for the rest of the team.

King Josiah – An Exceptional Man

When you read the history of King Josiah you will feel proud of what he did and how he faithfully served God.

He went from good to great when the Law was uncovered.

From verses 2-8 of 2 Chron 34 he see him aggressively pursuing ‘revival’.

2 Chronicles 34:3 NIV

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols.

2 Chronicles 34:8 NIV

In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, to purify the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the ruler of the city, with Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the temple of the Lord his God.

Even at the age of 16 years old he was seeking God and by 22 he was routing out all the idolatry. By the time his was 28 he was attempting to purify the temple. His list of cleansing the nation of idolatry is extensive.

He passionately wanted to follow God

The 2 Kings account points toward his passion in following the instructions of the book that they found in the temple.

2 Kings 22:11 NIV

When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.

He embraced the prophetic voice of the prophetess

Kings who were self-absorbed or were chasing other gods were not interested in what the prophets were saying. Josiah, on the other hand, looked specifically for the prophetic voice and found it in Huldah the prophetess.

2 Chronicles 34:23–28 NIV

She said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people—all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all that their hands have made, my anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’ Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord. Now I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here.’ ” So they took her answer back to the king.

He reestablishes the Passover

2 Chron 35 describes his commitment to reestablishing the Passover and ends on this highlight:

2 Chronicles 35:18 NIV

The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem.

2 Kings 23:25 is an amazing summation of King Josiah:

2 Kings 23:25 NIV

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

With all of these accomplishments and what seems to be a sincere heart, wouldn’t you expect an amazing revival in Judah? Maybe God would change the destiny of the nation? No. Sadly, he lived at the end of a long line of kings and a nation who refused to follow God. Ultimately, he, too, misses the will of God and it costs him his life on the battlefield.

King Josiah’s Lesson

I found the history of King Josiah to be troubling. The thing is, it’s not the king himself that troubled me. It is the way that his story ends. I like it when good endings happen for good people. King Josiah was a good king. From the time that he was 8 years old he did the right thing – a straight arrow. In 2 Kings “he is regarded as the finest of all the kings (‘Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him’, 2 Ki. 23:25),”[1]

So, I wanted to understand what could be learned from King Josiah and it seems to be that it is not so much that we can learn from King Josiah, it is what we can learn from the principles of the situation.

The Gulf Between “All the People” and a Lonely “He”

One of the resources that I used talked about how Josiah was the lonely king.

And in one respect more than any other the Chronicler seems to want us to recognize in Josiah an outstanding shepherd-king of the people of God. As we stand back from the total picture of his reign, we see that of all the figures grouped round him none is really close to him. What we must find increasingly impressive is the isolation of this heroic man. It is this loneliness which becomes a dominant feature of the Chronicler’s portrait of him.[2]

He didn’t really have a prophet or a priest that was close to him. Josiah’s revival was more encompassing than the revival of Hezekiah 100 years earlier but there seemed to be no “pop” or “bang” with it. I began to wonder.

I found that there was a singular, but very important, difference between the characteristics of Hezekiah’s revival and Josiah’s. It was the fact that, for the most part, the people were missing. In Hezekiah I found:

“The king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem decided ….”

“The plan seemed right both to the king and to the whole assembly.”

“Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give unity of mind to carry out…”

“A very large crowd of people…” + 6-10 more instances

Meanwhile in Josiah’s more extensive revival: “He did… He began…cut, smashed, broke, burned, purged, tore, crushed” etc. But what is completely missing is the assembly (the crowds, the tribes…the people).

No Man Can Be a Great King Without a Willing People

It Takes a “We”, not Just a “He” to See a Great Move of God

During my week of prayer, study, and preparation for this message I was also preparing to have a Bible study about what the Bible says about serving one another and I noticed how this fit right into what we need to understand about Josiah’s situation.

In the NT we see Jesus consistently involving the disciples in what He was doing.

He Called Us to Serve Others

In the Gospel of John Jesus sees a large crowd coming to them and he asks the disciples Philip and Andrew how they could feed so many. He already had in mind what He was going to do but he intentionally involved them. [3]

Jesus Calls Us to Serve with Others

Not only did Jesus try to get his disciples to serve others but He also was busy making connections between others. Jesus took a boy with 5 pieces of barley bread and 2 small fish, put him together with the disciples, performed the miraculous and met the needs of the thousands. “When we put our resources and efforts together, God takes what we offer and then opens doors into people’s hearts and lives. Jesus served others and wants us to do the same (Mark 10:45.)”[4]

Josiah was a great king – the greatest according to the prophet Jeremiah but the hearts of the people were missing. In one of Jeremiah’s laments, he says this about the times:

Jeremiah 22:8–10 NIV

“People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?’ And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’ ” Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss; rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled, because he will never return nor see his native land again.

There is Only One King That Can Make a People Good

If there was ever a king who seems to have been able to make lasting change in a nation it would have been Josiah but even 3 months after his death the nation had already turned to wickedness. They are only 22 years from the end of the era of the kings and carted off to Babylon.

No earthly king or earthly president can change the hearts of men. I watched the recent Republican debates and listened to the ideas and world views of the men and woman on the stage. At times I wondered if they really understood the condition of American hearts today.

Gallup has documented sharp declines in church attendance, confidence in organized religion and religious identification in recent years. Americans’ beliefs regarding God, angels, heaven, hell and the devil have also fallen by double digits since 2001.

But there is some hope… David Kinnaman, the CEO of Barna Group this year wrote:

In an October 2022 Barna survey of 2,000 U.S. adults, three out of four (74%) say they want to grow spiritually. Additionally, the same proportion (77%) say they believe in a higher power. Nearly half (44%) say they are more open to God today than before the pandemic.[5]

Well, that is hopeful, but our greatest hope is in the King of Kings the only King who can change a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. Today He is looking for a people who will believe in Him and serve Him. His people are described in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:3–10 NIV

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Josiah was a great king with no people. Jesus is the King of kings looking for His people. His promise is participation in the Kingdom of heaven, comfort, inheritance of the earth, satisfaction, mercy, the Presence of God, and the position as a child of God.

Are you willing to follow that King?

[1]Michael Wilcock, The Message of Chronicles: One Church, One Faith, One Lord, ed. J. A. Motyer and Derek Tidball, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1987), 265. [2]Michael Wilcock, The Message of Chronicles: One Church, One Faith, One Lord, ed. J. A. Motyer and Derek Tidball, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1987), 265. [3]Assemblies of God, Learn: Adult, Learn (Springfield, MO: Assemblies of God, 2021). [4]Assemblies of God, Learn: Adult, Learn (Springfield, MO: Assemblies of God, 2021). [5] Kinnaman, David. https://www.barna.com/research/rising-spiritual-openness/. Accessed August 26, 2023.