2 Kings 23:30

THE DEATH OF JOSIAH

‘His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo.’

2 Kings 23:30

If you would see the greatness of Josiah, you must look at the history of his life, not at the account which we have of his death. If the text of this sermon had been the only notice of Josiah, you would not have known that he was different from, or better than, other men of his time; you might have grieved over his death, and pitied one who seemed to fall so far short in glory of Solomon and others of the kings. But no, Josiah’s reign was a most glorious one, more glorious I should say than Solomon’s. He won for himself an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and having done this it mattered little whether it was a fever, or old age, or the sword of Pharaoh-nechoh, who was the messenger to call him away.

I. I think that the text may be very instructive to us as a picture of the manner in which God sometimes calls His servants away when they have done their work.—When I read in Holy Scripture of a man who like Josiah found his kingdom in confusion, and idolatry rampant, and false altars raised, and crime and pollution abundant, and when I read of him as setting himself to the work of purification with all his heart and with all his soul, I seem to read a parable describing the condition of each true member of Christ.

Josiah’s kingdom could not have been worse than the heart of each of us if left to itself, and he made it his business to cleanse his kingdom, even as each one of us, if he fulfils his promises, is bound to put out of his heart all that is unclean, all that maketh a lie, all that exalteth itself against God.

II. The moral which I draw from the text is this, that he who does his work in the proper time, who does not put off till old age the work of youth, nor to the hour of death the labour of life, may be quiet and unconcerned of the way in which God is pleased to call him; if he is called by some sudden Providence when engaged in his work, or summoned by some speedy sickness, or in whatever way God may take him, he may be of good cheer and of a quiet mind, knowing that God will do all things well.

Bishop Harvey Goodwin.

Illustrations

(1) ‘Josiah’s death was not a peaceful one. He persisted in going into conflict with Pharaoh-nechoh, king of Egypt, against the latter’s earnest remonstrance; and, in consequence of his hardihood, met his death. “His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo” (2 Kings 23:30). Is there, then, any real contradiction between the prophet’s prediction (2 Kings 22:20) and this sad event?

Certainly not! The one tells us what God was prepared to do for His servant; the other what he brought on himself by his own folly. There are many instances of this change of purpose in the Word of God. One of them is known as “his breach of promise,” or “altering of purpose” (Numbers 15:34, marg.). He would have saved His people from the forty years’ wandering in the wilderness, but they made Him serve with their sins. He would have gathered Jerusalem as a hen gathers her brood, but she would not.

Let us beware lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, and frustrating some blessed purpose of his heart. Eye hath not seen, nor heart conceived, what He has prepared for those who love Him. But we may limit the Holy One of Israel; we may so restrain Him by our unbelief as to stay Him from the mighty works which are in His thought to do for us.’

(2) ‘King Josiah’s end was sad and, as we may feel, disappointing and untimely. But he had done his work, and therefore God took him. Early as death came upon him, and painful as were its circumstances, it was really in mercy that God removed him. He himself, we may be sure, would not grieve at his departure, but rather thank God for having taken him from the evil to come. His history seems to warn us against laying too much stress on the circumstances of a man’s death, seeing that it is the life that is of real consequence. Our business in the world is to live for God, not to put off to old age the work of youth, nor to the hour of death the labour of life, but to work for God during the time appointed for our work. And then it matters not what the manner of our death may be.’