Monday 8th April
Read 2 Chronicles 34:1-7
“Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for thirty-one years. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left. 3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols. 4 Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them, and smashed the Asherah poles and the idols. These he broke to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5 He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and Jerusalem. 6 In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them, 7 he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles and crushed the idols to powder and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.”
Zephaniah preached during the reign of Josiah. As did Jeremiah. The destruction of Jerusalem foretold by both of them would occur within 21 years of Josiah’s death. The mystery surrounding this period is why the prophets during his reign consistently announced the coming destruction of Jerusalem. How did Josiah’s reforms not turn things around for Judah? Josiah ‘did what was right in the eyes of the Lord’ (v2a) and walked in the way of David and pursued Yahweh earnestly, passionately, deliberately and successfully from his teenage years. Why then did God not relent? Why was there barely a message of hope for one so zealous for the Lord?
Sometimes to understand a narrative the information missing is just as important as the information provided. What is missing from this story are the people. If you read the beginning of Josiah’s narrative closely, it is ‘he’ who tearing down idols, smashing altars and killing priests all over Judah and Jerusalem (v3-5). The people are missing. They are not with him. It almost reads as if this was a one-man show. Not just a show restricted to Judah, it goes ‘off-Broadway’ so to speak and tours the cities of the exiled Israelite kingdom also (v6-7)! Josiah was a determined reformer, but he was also a lonely one. A bright light shining amidst the darkened hearts of a people not interested in Yahweh at all. Which explains why there was barely a message of hope spoken during his reign.
When I read that Josiah went ‘as far as Napthali’ in his determination to stir up reformation in the hearts of God’s people I am reminded of someone else…
“When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali – 14 to fulfil what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
15 ‘Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles –
16 the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.’
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” (Matthew 4:12-17) (NIVUK)
