2 Kings 23:1-30

2. The Results of the Revival and the Death of Josiah

CHAPTER 23:1-30

1. The People hear the law (2 Kings 23:1; 2 Chronicles 34)

2. Josiah makes a covenant (2 Kings 23:3)

3. The great reformations (2 Kings 23:4)

4. The Passover celebrated (2 Kings 23:21; 2 Chronicles 35)

5. Further statements concerning Josiah (2 Kings 23:24)

6. The death of Josiah (2 Kings 23:29)

It is a great scene with which this chapter opens. The king feels now his responsibility towards the people. All the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were called together by him. Then there was a great procession of people headed by the king, followed by the elders, the priests and the prophets and all the people both small and great. The king read before this vast assembly all the words of the book of the covenant. The king standing on a pillar, or Platform, made a solemn covenant to walk after the LORD and to keep His commandments. All the people stood by it. But it did not last very long. As far as the king was concerned there can be no question that it was real with him. However, if we read the opening Chapter s of Jeremiah we find that the people's consecration was but skin-deep. They did not turn unto the LORD with the whole heart, but in falsehood (Jeremiah 3:10).

The description of the cleansing of Judah and Jerusalem of all the abominable things (verses 4-20) shows the awful depths of vileness and wickedness into which the professing people of God had sunk. All the abominations of the flesh connected with the worship of Baal and Ashera and a host of other things flourished in the land. “And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them and returned to Jerusalem” (verse 20).

The keeping of the Passover, the blessed feast of remembrance of what Jehovah had done, follows immediately after the cleansing of the land. The full account we find in Chronicles where we give further comment (2 Chronicles 35:1). But the record declares that “there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah.” The same was said of Hezekiah's passover (2 Chronicles 30:26). Hezekiah's passover was greater than any previous one and Josiah's feast was even greater than that of his great-grandfather.

And all the workers with familiar spirits (the demon possessed mediums) and other wickedness he cut off. In all this Josiah pleased Jehovah and the Spirit of God testifies to it. “And like unto him was there no king before him, that 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; neither after him arose there any like him.” Yet after these words there stands written once more the judgment message so soon to be accomplished upon Judah and Jerusalem.

Josiah died, having been shot on the battlefield at Megiddo. The Chronicles contains the details of his death (2 Chronicles 35:20).