Josiah Calls the People Back to God
Shared on August 25, 2024
Can the young become leaders and lead in the church? Join Pastor McCrary for the last lesson of the summer quarter as he takes a look at King Josiah. The young king leads the people in a restoration project of righteous. One last answer from God that shows He can and will use anybody!
Introduction
This week’s lesson is the last lesson of the summer quarter. Once again this week, we take a look at the question: can the youth become leaders and lead in the church? To answer that question, our lesson this week takes a look at a call made by a young king named Josiah.
Finding the Book of the Law
This week’s lesson opens with an astonishing find by Hilkiah the high priest and Shaphan the scribe (2 Kgs. 22:8). Hilkiah said to Shaphan, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” Now, this “find” leaves us with a few questions.
Evil’s reign in Jerusalem
The first question that might come to your mind is this: why did Hilkiah have to find the Book of the Law? To answer this question we have to take a look at the 57 years prior to this find. There was a king that reigned in Jerusalem named Manasseh (2 Kgs. 21:1). Manasseh’s reign began when he was twelve years old and lasted for fifty-five years!
Now, unlike all the kings of Israel, Judah had a mix of good and evil kings. (All of the kings of Israel were wicked). Manasseh happened to be one of the evil kings in Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 21:2). Manasseh rebuilt the place of idol worship which Hezekiah, a good king and his father, had tore down. Manasseh raised up altars for Baal and then had wooden Asherah made as well (2 Kgs. 21:3).
The building of the altars and idols were just some of the evil of Manasseh. Manasseh desecrated the temple that Solomon made by putting a carved image of Asherah in it (2 Kgs. 21:7)! So, he was clearly a king that had no respect for the Lord!
In his wickedness, he caused Judah to commit great sin. Manasseh’s sin was so great it caused the Lord to say, “I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah (2 Kgs. 21:12).” The calamity the Lord spoke of was the same that saw the fall of the house of Ahab (2 Kgs. 21:13). The Lord said, “I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.”
When Manasseh died, his son Amon reigned in his place (2 Kgs. 21:18). Amon was 22 years old when his reign began, and like his dad, he did evil in the sight of God (2 Kgs. 21:19-20). Amon’s reign only lasted two years as his servants conspired against him and killed him in his house (2 Kgs. 21:23).
Josiah reigns as king
So, for 57 years, wickedness ruled in the land of Jerusalem. The temple was desecrated with the idol worship. A new king’s reign began after the people of the land executed all of those that killed Amon (2 Kgs. 21:24). The new king that reigned was Josiah, and his reign began when he was eight years old (2 Kgs. 22:1)!
Now, we don’t see where he made any decrees at such a young age. You can imagine that it’s likely the adults taught and raised him before he could make any decrees. We don’t see him begin to make any decrees until the eighteenth year of his reign – he was 26 years old.
Josiah’s first decree was to send Shaphan to Hilkiah so that Hilkiah get the money collected into the hands of workers (2 Kgs. 22:3-5). We will see that there was restoration work being done to restore the temple after Manasseh’s desecration. So, Josiah was moving righteously and desired to restore holiness to Judah.
The Book of the Law
This restoration project is what led to the Book of the Law being found. What was the Book of the Law? There are two potential answers to this question.
The complete Law, or the Pentateuch, is made up of the first five books of the bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Some believe that what was found was only the book of Deuteronomy which does have instructions for the Feast of Passover (Deut. 16).
Again, the fact that the Book of the Law had to be found, again, says a great deal about the prior wickedness. The implication is that the Book of the Law was not out in the open or visible. The idea here could be equated to walking into a church and having to find a bible in an attic or basement! The Book of the Law should have been in the holy of holies, next to the ark of the covenant.
After the two men read the book, Shaphan brought word to the king about delivering the money to the workers (2 Kgs. 22:9). Then Shaphan brought up the Book of the Law, showed it to Josiah, and read it to him (2 Kgs. 22:10). The implication is that this would be the first time the Book of the Law had been read for some time!
Josiah Makes a Vow
After hearing its words, Josiah immediately began to move again. The king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 23:1). After they were gathered together, they went to the temple. Josiah essentially brings the whole congregation of Judah to the temple and had the words of the Book of the Covenant read to the congregation (2 Kgs. 23:2).
After those words were read, Josiah made a covenant (a vow) before the Lord (2 Kgs. 23:3)! Josiah commits to follow the Lord and keep His commandments. Josiah commits to keep God’s testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and soul. Josiah committed to perform the words of the covenant written in the book.
What Josiah has done here goes beyond making a covenant before the Lord. What do I mean by this? Josiah does not make this commitment in private. Josiah had all of Judah to not just hear the words of the book but to openly vow to God before the people. Two things here: first, the people were a witness to his vow. Secondly, do you know how inspirational such an open vow of faith was, especially at that time?
There were people who lived through the 57 years of open wickedness in Judah and Jerusalem. I imagine that there were many that wanted that nightmare to come to an end. So, for those that desired for the nightmare of wickedness to end, Josiah’s open vow had to be a breath of fresh air! Josiah open commitment inspired hope as we see that all the people took a stand for the covenant!
In recent weeks, I have preached about what we should strive to inspire in others. Daniel’s conviction of faith inspired the faith of his friends. As I said last week, we have to consider today what impact we are having on those around us. We have to ask and answer whether or not we inspire faith. All of God’s children have been called to encourage and inspire faith in the hearts of others.
The Feast of Passover Restored
Josiah was serious about his commitment to the Lord, as he should have been. As it’s said in Ecclesiastes 5:4, when you make a vow to God, don’t you delay to pay it! The Lord has no pleasure in fools, so, when we make a vow to Him, you better move to keep it!
Josiah commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant (2 Kgs. 23:21).” The Feast of Passover had been lost during the reign of wickedness just as it had happened in the northern kingdom.
Manasseh led his people away from God but Josiah was directing his people to the Lord. Here is where I remind you that Josiah was a young leader. Can the young lead? They sure can!
I remember something my dad said after he had turned 50 about having young people around. He said something along the lines that older folks need young people around them because their energy can inspire the older folks to run. This young enthusiastic king was restoring righteousness to a land that had not been seen since the days of the judges! (There were some good days during that period but this shows you how wicked the days had become in Judah.)
My dad was a big fan of there being youth leaders in the church. I wish more folks felt that way when I was growing because I feel a wonderful opportunity was missed for great youth leaders of my age. For us today, we must not be so quick to turn away the youth. We must learn to work with the youth, heed their voice, and when they are ready to run, we should support them. They can take us a long way and do many wonderful things.