23:1-2 Josiah arranges to convene with the elders of Judah and inform all of the word of God. The book of the Covenant has been discarded and the blessed covenant itself disparaged. The coming wrath of the Lord is pressing near and heavy to the people of Judah and Josiah decides that God must no longer be ignored. The word of God is read aloud to the elders.
23:3 Josiah's pure and purposeful faith provides a haven for the kingdom of Judah. God promised not to bring calamity during Josiah's reign because of his righteous heart and in that way, temporary refuge is provided. Josiah is heartfelt words and actions, he fully intends to restore the covenant of God:
Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.
The keywords, the key effort, in Josiah's proclamation are these: keep, heart and perform. Josiah promises God that he will keep Him and His commandments near; love Him and therefore righteousness, wholeheartedly; and perform the words he speaks, he will back up what he has said with actions and deeds.
23:4-14 Immediately, Josiah proves the truth of his intentions. The king of Judah has idolatry ripped from the temple of God and the kingdom of Judah: the high places are torn down, the idols are burned, the idolatrous priests are removed, ritual and perversion are targeted and abolished.
23:15 "Broken into pieces," pulverized," "crushed to powder." The altars are structures of corruption are emphatically, finally brought to dust. Josiah is not just going through the motions, he is emotionally, faithfully invested in this restoration. Crevices and corners are cleared of corruption as false-god worship is expunged from the kingdom.
23:16-18 The prophecy of 1 Kings 13:1-2 is fulfilled here: Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you. God knows who His righteous children are before they are born and He knows of the impact they will have on the earth. Josiah has been known by God as one who would come and challenge corruption, are you?
23:19-20 Once, Judah and Israel were combined as the House of Israel. Though the tribes have since divided into two, Josiah brings his cleansing even into the land of Israel. The high places in Samara are torn down and their corrupt priests are executed.
23:21-24 Josiah restores the Passover, the celebration of Israel's liberation from Egypt, for the first time in so many generations:
Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem.
Josiah returns the spirit of gratitude this kingdom of peoples once enslaved, now free because of God's love and loyalty. The celebration causes the people to consider and acknowledge the God who has provided everything and has received no love in return.
23:25 Josiah's life and soul is unique and blessed: Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him. There has never been any king like him! God wants us to understand the different in the impact Josiah made and the impact Josiah's corrupt father made. A heart wholly focused on righteousness restores humanity monumentally. Amon left behind a broken kingdom, a desolate and doomed people. Josiah created, restored, and provided hope!
Through a commitment to purposeful faith, Josiah reaches the heights of a soul's potential. And so can we.
23:26-27 Nevertheless, a kingdom of corruption remained. Josiah did his best to eliminate the structures and lead-perpetrators of idolatry and corruption but a body of wicked people remained. Like Israel, God promises to deliver Judah to the reality their corruption has created: a fractured and vulnerable kingdom. They have willingly sold themselves to sin and evil and now find themselves slaves of it. God only delivers discipline to the unrepentant; Josiah does his best but he cannot force people to turn their hearts to righteousness.
23:28-30 Egypt and Assyria align in a violent campaign against Judah and Josiah is killed. Josiah has valiantly completed his purpose and now earns a return to our Father in heaven. Judah makes Josiah's son, Jehoahaz the next king.
23:31 Jehoahaz, child of Josiah and Hamutal, becomes king at twenty three and reigns for three months in Jerusalem.
23:32-34 Jehoahaz is not like his father. He is an evil man. We can understand even more why God explained that calamity would fall upon Judah after Josiah's death and righteous reign. The pharaoh of Egypt imprisons Jehoahaz and imposes a tax on Judah - indeed Judah has been claimed by evil, evil which is has chosen to serve through assimilation to its corruption. Josiah's son Eliakim is made king of Judah and Jehoahaz is taken to Egypt where he dies.
Eliakim changes his name to Jehoiakim. The name is ironic: Eliakim means ressurection of God and Jehoiakim means raised by God. Jehoiakim is an evil man but was raised by a righteous one and therefore has a godly name.
23:35 Jehoiakim ensures that the tax owed to pharoah is paid for not by the kingdom exactly, but by the people of Judah. He does not have the people's interests at heart.
23:36-37 Jehoiakim becomes king at twenty five and reigns eleven years in Jerusalem.
