2 Ki. 23: Josiah's 180

2 Kings 23:22 "Not since the days of the judges who led Israel, nor throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, had any such Passover been observed."

The kingship in Judah looks like a turnover-filled football game. One king will run Judah one way, another king will immediately run it back the other way. And with fervor. No kings appear to just be go-to-work type kings. Either they are ardently for the LORD, or against. And passionately so, and it appears to be tied to religion.

What Josiah does to turn Judah back to the LORD reads like a religious who's who of the idols and practices of the day. Judah, in their polytheism, basically did it all. Baal. Asherah. Starry hosts. High places. Child sacrifice to Molech. The sun, Ashtoreth, Chemosh and Ashtoreth. The mediums, the spiritists, the household gods and the idols. He went so far as to slaughter the priests of the idols, and burn them on the altars meant for these other gods.

Then he commanded the celebration of Passover. Which sounds familiar, but hasn't even been mentioned since Joshua 5. commentary Like a thousand years ago.

But the LORD was still angry because of Manasseh, and despite Josiah's efforts to remove and destroy these things, Josiah was out of luck, and was killed by the Pharaoh when he took Judah to war. Josiah was even described as following the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength (Dt. 6:5). What was the reason for this? Why did the seemingly innocent Josiah have to pay for the actions of Manasseh and those before him? And Judah, the land of David would be subject to the same judgement as Israel.

Jehoahaz is Josiah's replacement, but is imprisoned by Pharaoh Neco so he could rule from Jerusalem. Basically an evil king, he turns Judah back around. Jehoahaz dies in captivity, and Josiah's next son, Eliakim is put on the throne by Neco, but is given the name Jehoiakim for some reason. Jehoiakim paid Neco protection money from the taxes. Jehoiakim was evil too.

And I react to this thusly. If God had allowed Josiah to keep ruling, perhaps Judah wouldn't have fallen into these evil kings this soon. But, probably, someone would have. And the hard truth of it is, Judah was in need of judgement, the way God saw it. And Josiah was the unfortunate innocent bearer of blood.