THE KING'S RESPONSE TO HULDAH'S WORDS IN THE MAKING OF A COVENANT WITH
THE PEOPLE FOLLOWED BY A DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF JOSIAH'S REFORMS (2
KINGS 23:1).
On receiving Huldah's response Josiah called together the elders of
the people, and then as a consequence summoned to the house of YHWH
the whole... [ Continue Reading ]
THE READING OF THE LAW AND THE MAKING OF THE COVENANT (2 KINGS 23:1).
2 Kings 23:1
‘And the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah
and of Jerusalem.'
Deeply moved by the words of Huldah the prophetess the king sent and
gathered to him ‘all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem'... [ Continue Reading ]
DETAILS OF JOSIAH'S REFORMS WHICH TOOK PLACE THROUGHOUT HIS REIGN OVER
MANY YEARS (2 KINGS 23:5).
What is now described would have commenced well before Josiah's
eighteenth year as the Temple was purified preparatory to its being
repaired and restored, and it would have continued on throughout his
r... [ Continue Reading ]
THE OBSERVANCE OF THE PASSOVER (2 KINGS 23:21).
The making of the new covenant following the reading of the Law was
then followed by an observance of the Passover. There are no grounds
whatsoever for the suggestion that previously the Passover had been
observed in people's houses and that this was n... [ Continue Reading ]
JOSIAH'S OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW WOULD PROVE TO BE INSUFFICIENT TO
PREVENT THE FINAL CATASTROPHE FOR JUDAH BECAUSE JERUSALEM'S SIN HAD
BEEN TOO GREAT AND WAS STILL TOO DEEPLY IMBEDDED IN THE PEOPLE (2
KINGS 23:24).
With all his enthusiasm and godliness Josiah could only reform the
outward trappings of... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CLOSURE OF JOSIAH'S REIGN (2 KINGS 23:28).
Josiah's glorious reign came to a sorry end when he made a fatal
miscalculation without consulting YHWH. Assyria were by this time in
dire straits after the sack of Nineveh and fighting for their very
existence against the Babylonians, Medes and Scythia... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAH (2 KINGS 23:31 TO 2 KINGS 25:26).
As Huldah had forewarned the death of Josiah signalled the beginning
of the end for Judah, and in fact within twenty five years of his
death (in 609 BC) Jerusalem would be no more. Jehoahaz (nee Shallum),
who succeeded him, only lasted three m... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ KING OF JUDAH (609 BC) - (2 KINGS 23:31).
Jehoahaz, who was Josiah's fourth son, was given the unenviable task
of replacing Josiah, knowing full well that the wrath of Egypt would
inevitably fall on Judah as a result of Josiah's action against
Pharaoh, and sure enough within t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REIGN OF ZEDEKIAH, KING OF JUDAH 597-587 BC (2 KINGS 24:18 TO 2
KINGS 25:7).
It is a reminder of how quickly events were moving that it was a son
of Josiah himself who now came to the throne as the last king of
Judah, and that he was only twenty one years old, so short would be
the time from th... [ Continue Reading ]