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2 Kings Chapter
Twenty-three
2 Kings 23
Chapter Contents
Josiah reads the law
and renews the covenant. (1-3) He
destroys idolatry. (4-14) The reformation extended to Israel
A passover kept.
(15-24) Josiah slain by Pharaoh-nechoh. (25-30) Wicked reigns of Jehoahaz and
Jehoiakim. (31-37)
Commentary on 2 Kings 23:1-3
(Read 2 Kings 23:1-3)
Josiah had received a message from God
that there was no
preventing the ruin of Jerusalem
but that he should only deliver his own soul;
yet he does his duty
and leaves the event to God. He engaged the people in the
most solemn manner to abolish idolatry
and to serve God in righteousness and
true holiness. Though most were formal or hypocritical herein
yet much outward
wickedness would be prevented
and they were accountable to God for their own
conduct.
Commentary on 2 Kings 23:4-14
(Read 2 Kings 23:4-14)
What abundance of wickedness in Judah and Jerusalem! One
would not have believed it possible
that in Judah
where God was known
in
Israel
where his name was great
in Salem
in Zion
where his dwelling-place
was
such abominations should be found. Josiah had reigned eighteen years
and
had himself set the people a good example
and kept up religion according to
the Divine law; yet
when he came to search for idolatry
the depth and extent
were very great. Both common history
and the records of God's word
teach
that all the real godliness or goodness ever found on earth
is derived from
the new-creating Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Commentary on 2 Kings 23:15-24
(Read 2 Kings 23:15-24)
Josiah's zeal extended to the cities of Israel within his
reach. He carefully preserved the sepulchre of that man of God
who came from
Judah to foretell the throwing down of Jeroboam's altar. When they had cleared
the country of the old leaven of idolatry
then they applied themselves to the
keeping of the feast. There was not holden such a passover in any of the
foregoing reigns. The revival of a long-neglected ordinance
filled them with
holy joy; and God recompensed their zeal in destroying idolatry with uncommon
tokens of his presence and favour. We have reason to think that during the
remainder of Josiah's reign
religion flourished.
Commentary on 2 Kings 23:25-30
(Read 2 Kings 23:25-30)
Upon reading these verses
we must say
Lord
though thy
righteousness be as the great mountains
evident
plainly to be seen
and past
dispute; yet thy judgments are a great deep
unfathomable
and past finding
out. The reforming king is cut off in the midst of his usefulness
in mercy to
him
that he might not see the evil coming upon his kingdom: but in wrath to
his people
for his death was an inlet to their desolations.
Commentary on 2 Kings 23:31-37
(Read 2 Kings 23:31-37)
After Josiah was laid in his grave
one trouble came on
another
till
in twenty-two years
Jerusalem was destroyed. The wicked
perished in great numbers
the remnant were purified
and Josiah's reformation
had raised up some to join the few who were the precious seed of their future
church and nation. A little time
and slender abilities
often suffice to undo
the good which pious men have
for a course of years
been labouring to effect.
But
blessed be God
the good work which he begins by his regenerating Spirit
cannot be done away
but withstands all changes and temptations.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Kings》
2 Kings 23
Verse 2
[2] And
the king went up into the house of the LORD
and all the men of Judah and all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him
and the priests
and the prophets
and
all the people
both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words
of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.
Prophets —
Either Jeremiah
Zephaniah
Urijah: or
the sons of the prophets. It seems he
read it himself. Josiah did not think it beneath him
to be a reader
any more
than Solomon did to be a preacher
and David to be even a door keeper in the
house of God. All people are concerned to know the scripture
and all in
authority
to spread the knowledge of it.
Verse 3
[3] And the king stood by a pillar
and made a covenant before the LORD
to
walk after the LORD
and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his
statutes with all their heart and all their soul
to perform the words of this
covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the
covenant.
Stood —
They declared their consent to it
and their concurrence with the king in that
act
which possibly they did by standing up
as the king himself stood when he
took it. It is of good use
with all possible solemnity
to oblige ourselves to
our duty. And he that bears an honest heart
does not startle at assurances.
Verse 4
[4] And
the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest
and the priests of the second
order
and the keepers of the door
to bring forth out of the temple of the
LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal
and for the grove
and for all
the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of
Kidron
and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
Second order —
Either those two who were next in degree to the high-priest
and in case of
sickness were to manage his work: or the heads of the twenty four courses which
David had appointed.
The grove —
The image of the grove: it being most frequent to call images by the names of
the persons or things which they represent.
The fields —
Adjoining to the brook of Kidron.
To Beth-el — To
shew his abhorrence of them
and that he would not give the ashes of them a
place in his kingdom: and to pollute and disgrace that place which had been the
chief seat and throne of idolatry.
Verse 5
[5] And
he put down the idolatrous priests
whom the kings of Judah had ordained to
burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah
and in the places round
about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal
to the sun
and to
the moon
and to the planets
and to all the host of heaven.
Priests —
Heb. the Chemarim; the highest rank of priests
employed in the highest work
which was to burn incense.
Verse 6
[6] And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD
without Jerusalem
unto the brook Kidron
and burned it at the brook Kidron
and stamped it small
to powder
and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the
people.
The people — Of
that people
those idolatrous people
as it is explained
2 Chronicles 34:4.
Verse 7
[7] And
he brake down the houses of the sodomites
that were by the house of the LORD
where the women wove hangings for the grove.
Sodomites —
Sodomy was a part of idol-worship
being done to the honour of some of their
idols
and by the appointment of those impure and diabolical spirits
which
were worshipped in their idols.
Hangings —
Or
curtains
either to draw before the idols which were worshipped in the grove
to preserve them from defilement
or to gain more reverence for them: Or
garments for the service of the grove
for the idols or the priests belonging
to them. Heb. houses
that is
either little chappels made of woven work
like
those which were made of silver
Acts 19:24
within which there were some
representations of their grove-idols: or rather
tents made of those curtains
for the use above-mentioned.
Verse 8
[8] And
he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah
and defiled the high
places where the priests had burned incense
from Geba to Beersheba
and brake
down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of
Joshua the governor of the city
which were on a man's left hand at the gate of
the city.
Priests —
Belonging to the high-places following
whether such as worshipped idols; or
such as worshipped God in those forbidden places.
Defiled — By
burning dead mens bones upon them
or by putting them to some other unclean
use.
From Geba —
The northern border of the kingdom of Judah.
Beer-sheba —
The southern border
from one end to the other.
Gates —
Which were erected by the gates of the city here mentioned
to the honour of
their tutelary gods
whom after the manner of the heathen they owned for the
protectors of their city and habitations.
The governor —
This circumstance is noted to shew Josiah's great zeal and impartiality
in
rooting out all monuments of idolatry
without any respects unto those great
persons who were concerned in them.
Verse 9
[9]
Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the
LORD in Jerusalem
but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their
brethren.
The priest —
Who worshipped the true God there.
In Jerusalem —
Were not suffered to come thither to the exercise of their priestly function;
as a just punishment for the corruption of God's worship
and the transgression
of so plain and positive a law of God
Deuteronomy 12:11
which was much worse in them
who had more knowledge to discern the will of God
and more obligations to
observe it.
Did eat — Of
the meal-offerings
allotted to the priests
wherein there was to be no leaven
Leviticus 2:4
5
10
11
and consequently of other
provisions belonging to the priests
which are contained under this one kind.
Thus their spiritual blemish puts them into the very same state which corporal
blemishes brought them
Leviticus 21:17
etc. And thus he mitigates
their punishment: he shuts them out from spiritual services
but allows them
necessary provisions.
Verse 10
[10] And
he defiled Topheth
which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom
that no
man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
Topheth —
Very near Jerusalem
where was the image of Molech
to whom some sacrificed
their children
burning them in the fire
others dedicated them
making them
pass between two fires. It is supposed to be called Topheth
from toph
a drum;
because they beat drums at the burning of the children
that their shrieks
might not be heard.
Verse 11
[11] And
he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun
at the
entering in of the house of the LORD
by the chamber of Nathanmelech the
chamberlain
which was in the suburbs
and burned the chariots of the sun with
fire.
Horses —
Such the eastern nations used to consecrate to the sun
to signify the
swiftness of his motion.
The sun —
Either
to be sacrificed to the sun: or
to draw those chariots in which the
kings
or some other in their stead
went forth every morning to worship the
rising sun: for both these were the customs of the Armenians and Persians
as
Xenophon testifies.
Entering in — By
the gate of the outward court of the temple.
Chamberlain —
Or
officer
to whom the care of these horses were committed.
Suburbs — Of
the temple: in certain outward buildings belonging to the temple.
Chariots —
Which were made for the worship of the sun.
Verse 12
[12] And
the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz
which the kings
of Judah had made
and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of
the house of the LORD
did the king beat down
and brake them down from thence
and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
The top —
Upon the roof of the king's house. They were so mad upon their idols
that they
were not content with all their publick high places and altars
but made others
upon their house-tops
for the worship of the heavenly bodies.
Cast — To
shew his detestation of them: and to abolish the very remembrance of them.
Verse 13
[13] And
the high places that were before Jerusalem
which were on the right hand of the
mount of corruption
which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth
the abomination of the Zidonians
and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites
and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon
did the king defile.
Corruption —
The mount of olives
called the mount of corruption
for the gross idolatry
there practiced.
Which —
Not the same individual altars; which doubtless either Solomon upon his
repentance
or some other of Josiah's predecessors had taken away
but other
altars built by Manasseh or Amon
which because erected by Solomon's example
and for the same use
and in the same place
are called by his name: this brand
is left by the Holy Ghost upon his name and memory
as a just punishment of
that abominable practice
and a mean to deter others from the like.
Abomination —
The idol
so called
because it was abominable
and made them abominable to
God.
Verse 14
[14] And
he brake in pieces the images
and cut down the groves
and filled their places
with the bones of men.
Men — Of
the idolatrous priests
which he caused to be taken out of their graves
verse 18. As he carried the ashes of the images to the
graves
to mingle them with dead mens bones
so he carried dead mens bones to
the places where the images had been
that both ways idolatry might be rendered
loathsome. Dead men and dead gods were indeed much alike
and fittest to go
together.
Verse 15
[15]
Moreover the altar that was at Bethel
and the high place which Jeroboam the
son of Nebat
who made Israel to sin
had made
both that altar and the high
place he brake down
and burned the high place
and stamped it small to powder
and burned the grove.
Beth-el —
Probably this city was now under the kingdom of Judah
to which it was added by
Abijah long since. And it is probable
since the ten tribes were carried away
many cities had put themselves under the protection of Judah. The golden calf
it seems
was gone; but Josiah would leave no remains of that idolatry.
Verse 16
[16] And
as Josiah turned himself
he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount
and sent
and took the bones out of the sepulchres
and burned them upon the
altar
and polluted it
according to the word of the LORD which the man of God
proclaimed
who proclaimed these words.
Himself —
Josiah's care and zeal was so great
that he would not trust his officers with
these things
but would see them done with his own eyes.
These words —
Three hundred years before it was done.
Verse 20
[20] 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.
The priests — By
this relation it appears
that after the departure of the king of Assyria
divers of the Israelites who had retired to other parts
and kept themselves
out of the conqueror's hands
returned together with their priests to their own
land
and to their old trade
worshipping idols; to whom
peradventure
they
ascribed this their deliverance from that judgment which Jehovah had brought
upon them.
And burnt —
According to that famous prophecy
1 Kings 13:1
2.
Verse 22
[22]
Surely 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;
Such a passover —
Celebrated with such solemn care
and great preparation
and numerous
sacrifices
and universal joy of all good men; which was much the greater
because of their remembrance of the former wicked and miserable times under
Manasseh
and Amon; and the good hopes they now had of the happy establishment
of their nation
and the true religion; and of the prevention of God's
judgments denounced against them.
Judges —
Or
from the days of Samuel
the last of the judges; as it is expressed 2 Chronicles 35:18. None of the kings had taken
such care to prepare themselves
the priests
and people
and accurately to
observe all the rites
and diligently to purge out all uncleanness
and to
renew their covenant with God. And undoubtedly God was pleased to recompense
their zeal in destroying idolatry with uncommon tokens of his presence and
favour. All this concurred to make it such a passover as had not been
even in
the days of Hezekiah.
Verse 24
[24]
Moreover the workers with familiar spirits
and the wizards
and the images
and the idols
and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah
and in Jerusalem
did Josiah put away
that he might perform the words of the
law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house
of the LORD.
Images
… —
Three words noting the same thing
to shew
That all the instruments and
monuments of idolatry were destroyed
as God had commanded.
Spied —
All that were discovered; not only such as were in the place of worship
but
such as their priests or zealots had removed
and endeavoured to hide.
Verse 25
[25] 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.
No king —
For his diligent study in God's law
and his exact care
and unwearied
industry
and fervent zeal
in rooting out idolators
and all kinds and
appearances of idolatry
not only in Judah
but in Israel also; and in the
establishment of the true religion in all his dominions
and in the conforming
of his own life
and his peoples too
(as far as he could) to the holy law of
God: though Hezekiah might excel him in some particulars.
Verse 26
[26]
Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath
wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah
because of all the provocations
that Manasseh had provoked him withal.
Notwithstanding —
Because though the king was most hearty in his repentance and acceptable to
God
and therefore the judgment was delayed for his time; yet the people were
in general corrupt
and secretly averse from Josiah's pious reformation
as
appears from the complaints of the prophets
especially Jeremiah and Zephaniah
against them: and by the following history
wherein we see
that as soon as
ever Josiah was gone
his children
and the princes
and the people
suddenly
and greedily returned to their former abominations.
Because —
The sins of Manasseh
and for the men of his generation; who concurred with him
in his idolatrous and cruel practices
are justly punished in this generation:
because of God's sovereign right of punishing sinners when he sees fit: because
of that publick declaration of God
that he would visit the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children: and principally
because these men had never
sincerely repented of their own
nor of their fathers sins.
Verse 27
[27] And
the LORD said
I will remove Judah also out of my sight
as I have removed
Israel
and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen
and the
house of which I said
My name shall be there.
I said —
Upon the conditions in sundry places expressed
which they broke
and therefore
God justly made them to know his breach of promise.
Verse 29
[29] In
his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the
river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo
when he had seen him.
The king
… —
The king of Babylon
who having formerly rebelled against the Assyrian had now
conquered him; as appears by the course of the sacred
and the concurrence of
the prophane history; and therefore is here and elsewhere called the Assyrian
and the king of Assyria
because now he was the head of that empire.
Euphrates —
Against Carchemish by Euphrates
as it is expressed
2 Chronicles 35:20
which the Assyrian had taken
from Pharaoh's confederates
who therefore sends forces against the Assyrian
that he might both help them
and secure himself.
Josiah went —
Either to defend his own country from Pharaoh's incursions; or to assist the
king of Babylon
with whom he seems to have been in league.
Slew —
Gave him his death wound there; though he died not 'till he came to Jerusalem.
Seen him —
When he fought with him
or in the first onset. It does not appear
that Josiah
had any clear call to engage in this war; possibly he received his death wound
as a punishment of his rashness.
Verse 30
[30] And
his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo
and brought him to
Jerusalem
and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took
Jehoahaz the son of Josiah
and anointed him
and made him king in his father's
stead.
Dead —
Mortally wounded.
Jehoahaz —
Who was younger than Jehoiakim
yet preferred by the people before the elder
brother; either because Jehoiakim refused the kingdom for fear of Pharaoh
whom
he knew he should hereby provoke. Or because Jehoahaz was the more stout and
warlike prince; whence he is called a lion
Ezekiel 19:3.
Verse 32
[32] And
he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD
according to all that his
fathers had done.
His fathers —
His grand-parents
Manasseh
and Amon. He restored that idolatry which his
father had destroyed. Jerusalem saw not a good day
after Josiah was laid in
his grave; but one trouble came after another
'till within two and twenty
years it was destroyed.
Verse 33
[33] And
Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath
that he might
not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of
silver
and a talent of gold.
In bands —
Either
because he presumed to take the kingdom without his consent: or because
he renewed the war against Pharaoh.
Verse 34
[34] And
Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his
father
and turned his name to Jehoiakim
and took Jehoahaz away: and he came
to Egypt
and died there.
Jehoiakim —
The giving of names was accounted an act of dominion; which therefore parents
did to their children
and conquerors to their vassals or tributaries.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Kings》
ALLS
OF SEPARATION.
We have the
life of good king Josiah summed up under seven “ alls.”
Ⅰ. The “ all ” of separation. “ All the abominations……did
Josiah put away” (2
Kings 23:24).
Ⅱ. The “
all ” of affection. “ Turned to the Lord with all his heart ” (2 Kings 23:25).
Ⅲ. The “
all ” of soul or life. “Turned to the Lord with all his soul” (2 Kings 23:25).
Ⅳ. The “
all ” of strength. “All his might ” ( 2
King 23:25).
Ⅴ. The
“all” of fidelity. “ According to all the law of Moses” (2 Kings 23:25).
Ⅵ. The
“all” of perseverance. “ All his days they departed not form following the Lord
” (2 Chronicles 34:33).
Ⅶ. The
“all” of influence. “ The king commanded all the people
saying
Keep the
Passover unto the Lord” ( 2 Kings 23:21).
──
F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
23 Chapter 23
Verses 1-25
Verses 1-37
Verses 1-28
And the King sent
and they gathered unto him all the elders of
Judah and of Jerusalem.
Good aims and bad methods
The verses I have selected record and illustrate good alms and bad
methods.
I. Good aims.
Josiah’s aims
as here presented
Were confessedly high
noble
and good.
1. To reduce his people to a loyal obedience to heaven.
2. Generated within him by the discovery of the Divine will.
II. Bad methods.
How did Josiah now seek to realise his purpose
to sweep idolatry from the face
of his country? Not by argument
suasion
and moral influence
but by brute
force and violence (2 Kings 23:4-28). I offer two
remarks concerning his method.
1. It was unphilosophic. Morals evil cannot be put down by force;
coercion cannot travel to a man’s soul.
2. It was mischievous. The evil was not extinguished; it burnt with
fiercer flame. Persecution has always propagated the errors it has sought to
crush. “He that taketh the Sword shall perish by the sword.” (David Thomas
D. D.)
A revival of religion
A young and active king now sits on Judah’s throne. Our text finds
him at the age of six-and-twenty
in the midst of reforms which might have
appalled many a man of twice his age. The earlier years of his reign he has
occupied in many and various reforms
Now we find him in the midst of a revival
of religion
the like of which the world has but seldom seen. The king
the
court
the elders
the rulers
and the people all felt its power. Beginning at
the house of God
it thrilled through all classes
and changed the whole
religious life and thought of the land. And it is this revival of religion that
I desire now to consider.
I. This revival
began at the house of God. And surely that was the best place. In God’s house
in God’s presence
we are to assemble and look for Him. It is there we may
expect the Shekinah fire
no longer visible over the ark between the cherubim
but felt in force and power in human hearts. It is there we must seek for
renewed vigour and Divine influence. It is there we must look for the Lord Himself
and pray Him to strengthen and quicken us. It is there we must come for the
deepening of our faith in the Eternal
enlarging of our courage and zeal
and
the expansion of cur Christian hope. It is there all revival must begin. If
then
we are to have a revival
it must begin at God’s house. Votes of the
House of Commons cannot do it
Acts of Parliament will never make men
religious. Decrees of State will not fill empty churches with men and women
full of the Holy Ghost and fire. All this has been tried. Some two or three
hundred years ago soldiers were stationed at the doors of the parish churches
not so much to see who attended as to note who was absent. Fine
imprisonment
exile and worse
fell to the lot of those who did not fill their places. These things
did not succeed. They never can. Fine
sword
fire
and persecution failed
and
always will. They are the instruments of a past and barbarous age. But if we
are to have a revival in which the people shall flock to God’s house
God’s
house itself must be revived. There must be live men in the Church
if it is to
save men alive. A cold Church but seldom warms cold hearts.
II. In this revival
men came back to the word of God. The long-lost book was found. The Word of the
Lord hid
slighted
neglected
lost
was discovered and brought to the young
king. What a discovery Hilkiah made when he found the Bible! What a treasure he
dug up! What a mine of precious ore! What a valuable find! The young king was
quick to see its importance
value
and worth. It was read; its warnings
heeded
its promises
believed. And it was read to all the people. What an effect that book produced.
Even so. I have no faith in any revival without the Word of God. Read the
history of the great revivals in the Church
and you will find the Word of God
in it all. Beginning with the Bereans right down to our day you will find it
so. John Wycliffe was a great power in his day. He is rightly called the
Morning Star of the Reformation. He Sent his Lollard preachers through the lend
to tell the story of God’s love. As he translated the Bible into the language
of the people
his preachers went and read it and preached it to common folk.
Read the history of the Reformation
and what will you find there? Martin
Luther is its hero. That marvellous man
like his Lord and Master
was a son of
the people
and began life in a poor and comfortless home. Reared in the faith
and practice of the Romish Church
he came to know it well
and early saw its
weakness. What was it made him take his reforming action? Have we not read that
he found a copy of the Scriptures--the neglected
deserted
forsaken Bible? He
read it. It did its work.
It was the Bible made him the great reformer. It was the Bible which the
reformers accepted as a sufficient rule of faith and life. We
too
need to pay
more attention to the living Word of God. We are apt to look for and depend
upon the word of man. If that is not eloquent
if that is not such as to tickle
our fancy
we often return from God’s house displeased
dissatisfied
and
unblessed. What a mistake! Let us look for the God-sent message; let us hearken
for the voice of the living God; let us hear what He has to say to us.
III. A revived
Church will make itself felt in the world. This assembling at the house of God
and the solemn and reverent reading of the Bible
made a deep impression upon
the people. The king dedicated himself to God. And surely that is the right
thing for a king to do. The king should lead in all good things. All the people
felt the influence
and there was a national movement. Public life was
affected
the power of God was felt
men pat away their idols
and came back to
the faith of their fathers. The Church
the Temple
religion became a greater
force in the national life. (C. Leach
D. D.)
Verse 2
And the King went up into the house of the Lord.
Spiritual idolatry
Why should there be such a gathering as this? why should all the
mighty
all the good
and all the wise
all the great with all the small
make
such a point of going into the house of the Lord on this occasion? Why should
they make such a public display about an ordinary duty
such as assembling in
the house of the Lord? For two reasons.
1. Because that duty had become an extraordinary one
through the
long neglect of it.
2. And the other reason was
because they were desirous to hear the
Word of the Lord. These were indeed two good reasons for this solemn assembly
of all the people in the Lord’s house. But what a terrible lesson does it read
to us! We read of a wonderful deliverance of His people by Almighty God out of
the hands of their enemies
when to the eye of man their situation was utterly
hopeless. We should expect that this would have awakened them
especially as
God had performed it on their turning back
under the pious Hezekiah
from
their false gods to the true and living God; yet here
in the third generation
from that time
we find the altars and temples of the false gods up again
and
the Word of God lost
not only out of the hearts
but of the very sight and ears of the people.
Once again
however
and
alas! for the last
time
both the temple and that
Word were restored under the care of the pious Josiah; and the people of God
once again
and for the last time
showed themselves as the people of God. Such
is the example before us; the example of a people
too
in whose place we are
standing
being grafted in as a wild olive
in place of the branches which had
been broken off because of unbelief. And their example is our example
as we
have been told by St. Paul. Let us review
then
some of the plainest
applications of this example.
Verse 11
And Josiah took away the horses that the Kings of Judah had given
to the sun.
The imagination in sin
Josiah sought to purify Israel from the idolatry that had been
established by his predecessors
and in the course of this reformation occurs
the incident recorded in the text. He “took away the horses that the Kings of
Judah had given to the sun . . . and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.”
You ask
What has this to do with the modern world and with modern men? This I
wish to show. For it seems to me that there is in the text a twofold lesson
which all generations ought to lay to heart. We are taught here--
I. The
pretentiousness of sin. “The horses of the sun . . . the chariots of the sun.”
Very large and magnificent indeed! There is wonderful exaggeration about all
idolatry. The idol without eyes was known as the God of light; without breath
it was worshipped as the God of life; it could not stand unless it were nailed
down or shored up
but it was proclaimed the Thunderer
or distinguished by
some other august title. “We know that an idol is nothing in the world
” but
these nothings have received the highest names and titles
and through the
superstition of their worshippers have been invested with the grandest
attributes. And as it was with the gods of the Pantheon
so it is with the
rabble of the vices; they are full of pretentiousness
they steal supreme
names
they make impossible promises. The world of iniquity is a world of
dazzling colours
false magnitudes
lurid lights.
1. How brilliant is the world of diseased imagination when compared
with the world of sober reality in which God has placed us to work out our
life! To-day we are all readers. What are we reading? History
science
philosophy
theology? Are we bent on finding out the great meanings of sober
life and real life? You know better. The main part of our leisure hours is
taken up with tales of mystery and imagination. It is not well to live long
with unthinkable people and impossible situations in an ideal and fantastic
universe; it puts our eye out for the actual world in which our serious
business lies. Multitudes who would not for a moment in actual life touch the
vices gilded by literary art will spend their leisure hours in contemplating
these lawless things projected into visionary realms. And what is the secret of
this ambiguous conduct? The fact is; actual life seems narrow and prosaic
dull
and dreary
and so we steal away in me solar phaeton. How dim and insipid is
the world of sober virtue off the side of lawlessness
excused by Sophistry and
glorified by imagination! In fiction me grey world becomes kaleidoscopic
and
the evil world is etherealised into coloured vapours whose fantastic movements
stir our curiosity and wonder. So
despising the modest vehicles which God
appoints for the pilgrimage of human life
we seat ourselves in the flaming car
of imagination
and
drawn by fiery steeds of passion
with Zola for a
charioteer
make the dizzy
intoxicating
yet terribly dangerous circuit of the
sun.
2. Again
the same truth comes out as we compare the victories of war
with the victories of peace. War is sometimes inevitable
things being as they
are. The scientist holds that in nature a lesser evil is permitted to prevent a
greater. Just war is a lesser evil to prevent a greater. There is something
better than life
and that is right
equality
liberty; and war is the
desperate resort of men crushed by tyranny. Still
war is an evil
a terrible
evil. We must never fail to remember that; we must ever pray and work for the
golden year when men shall learn war no more. And yet what a glamour there is
about the red spectre! The poet may well write of “the pride
pomp
and
circumstance of glorious war.” But no crowd turns out in the morning to greet
the colliers going to their work
or in the evening to cheer the factory hands
returning from the mill. There is no glittering romance about industry
no poetry about the toil
which creates the wealth of nations. Industry is yoked to a coster’s barrow
whilst the powder-cart is the dazzling chariot of the sun.
3. We find another illustration of our point if we compare the career
of unlawful speculation with the life of honest gain. How large
glowing
bewitching
is the former compared with the level course of the latter! Look at
the titanic speculator. In a few years he emerges out of obscurity into
national notoriety. It is all outside the legitimate
but it is dramatic
full
of sensation and surprise. Squalid huckstering is transfigured into romance.
How different the course of the little shopkeeper
with his “small profits and
quick returns!” No song or story this time; no scent of poetry about the
ledger
unless it sometimes reminds the shopkeeper of “Paradise Lost.” The
daring adventurer shoots towards the golden goal in an electric car
whilst the
humble trader is a wayfaring man.
4. And
finally
the same truth is evident when we compare the course
of sensual pleasure with the simple pleasantness of a blameless life. How
violent are the delights of sensualism! How tame the entertainments of the fireside!
They are ridiculous compared with the fiery delights of the dram-shop. So it is
throughout. The illegitimate and destructive
the things seriously wanting in
reason and godliness
appeal most to the imagination; they have a glory and
garishness which bewitch and lure into false ways.
II. The
preposterousness of sin. “And Josiah burned the chariots of the sun with fire.”
Throughout the whole of the reformation that he effected Josiah manifested his
deep contempt of the idolatry that had wrought such mischief in Israel. With
cutting irony he abolished first one evil thing and then another. “He burned
the chariots of the sun with fire.” To cremate the chariots of the sun was the
grimmest humour. The sun is said to be fifteen times hotter than the hottest
thing upon the earth
so that if an incombustible car is wanted anywhere it is
required for the insufferable solar majesty; and to cremate the car set apart
for the fiery god was to convict it of fraud and to doom it to infinite
contempt. To make a bonfire of the chariots of the sun was as ridiculous as if
Noah’s ark had suffered shipwreck in a fish-pond. All Israel smiled scornfully
as the pretentious things blazed in the flame and darkened into the ashes. Here
is the truth that I wish to enforce--namely
that
despite all paint and
spangles
all its exaggerations and splendours
sin is a miserable sham utterly
unworthy of rational men. Wickedness is a screaming farce
as it is also the
supreme tragedy. Notwithstanding its theatrical rhetoric
it is a hollow lie
doomed to detection and contempt. Have nothing to do with things that cannot
bear the test of thought. Thought strips away the cunning disguises of sin; it
is the searchlight that makes clear the fact. In the hour of reflection our
reason gives the lie to passion; our instincts rebuke our fancies; our
conscience scorns the sophistries of imagination. Have nothing to do with that
which will not bear the test of experience. Recall the principles and teachings
which have been tried and attested by many generations. The devil has an
arithmetic of his own which shows how large and splendid are the wages of
unrighteousness; but in actual life his specious arithmetic works into
bankruptcy and beggary of every kind. Fancy figures out the couriers and chariots
of the sun as the dazzling and delightful equipages of the wicked
but a ray of
daylight reduces them to the monstrous forms of the policeman’s stretcher
the
workhouse omnibus
the prison van
the scaffold
the hearse that bears to the
grave ere men have lived out half their days. Have nothing to do with that
which will not bear the test of time. Things that are seductive in certain
hours and moods of temptation look mean and deadly enough if you wait awhile.
Time tries all things and detects the plausibleness which might deceive the
elect. There is an illuminating power in time
and it shows up sin as vain
absurd
and contemptible. We wonder that we could ever thus have prayed the
fool. Christ alone can strengthen us to live such a life. He knows what “the
chariots of the sun” mean--He was tempted by the vision of the kingdoms and the
glory of them. He saw and felt the power of the realm of illusion. The
arch-sorcerer worked all his spells on the Son of Man--He refused “the chariot
of the sun
” and followed the call of duty
the path of the Passion. In the
strength of the Master take up your cross and follow Him
and you shall find
the realities of power
greatness
and everlasting joy. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Verse 22
Surely there was not holden such a Passover.
Sincerity of repentance
There is something very striking and melancholy in these words.
The children of Israel celebrated their last Passover
all being together
and
in such a manner as had not been known since the earlier and better days of
their possession of the promised land. It was
in fact
the last repentance of
God’s people
and a lively repentance it seems to have been
to judge from
outward tokens. But
alas! it did
not continue. Three times already before this
God’s people had publicly
repented
under the direction of pious princes
which were Jehoshaphat
Jehoash
Hezekiah. But now the appointed punisher of their sins was openly
manifested to their sight in the terrible King of Babylon. And like the sick
man with death before his eyes
they made earnest protestations of repentance
and amendment if God would spare them
and sealed them with the celebration of
the Sacrament of the Paschal Supper. Here
then
is before us the example of a
fourth publicly professed repentance
and as ineffectual as the three that went
before. Should it not lead us to take very close and scrutinising views of
repentance
and to conclude that there must be something in it besides the
present feeling of shame and sorrow
however sharp and lively that may be?
There must be some abiding feeling in it
which shame and sorrow naturally are
not. For the very sense of them drives us to rid ourselves of them by all
means. What then can that be? What does God demand beyond the broken heart?
Nothing
if it be indeed broken in His name. But here lies the question. Which
does the man think most of
his own personal danger
or God’s damaged glory?
Which does he lament most
his own loss
or God’s rejected love? Has he
renounced the sinful selfishness of his nature? A man may keep this
and yet be
overwhelmed with shame and sorrow; he may retain this
and yet manifest the
most lively outward marks of repentance. So did Israel; and was led by it into
his sins again
and they led him to the final judgment which came upon his
head. Here is the cause of so many apparent repentances in the course of a
man’s life. Selfish sorrow
selfish shame have wrung his heart
and terrified
his conscience. But he has not gone beyond self. He has seen
indeed
the
miserable disorder which his sins have wrought in himself in body and in mind.
But has he looked out and up to see the miserable disorder which they have also
wrought in God’s work of love; how they have obscured the brightness of His
glory
how they have shaken the faith of His Church
as far as His sphere
extends; and who shall tell how far it extends? Here is the principle that is
so commonly wanting; here is that which Israel lacked
the heavenly spirit
and
not the earthly dregs only. When the heart has thus been lifted out of itself
divested of its earthliness and carnality
and has risen into heaven to see the
majesty which it has affronted
the love which it has rejected
the glory which
it has blasphemed
and thence also looks down again upon the scenes of its sin
and mischief amongst God’s works and people
and sees them with a clear and
sharp eye
and lively and enlightened conscience
as becomes a look from
above--then
and not until then
a real repentance has taken place. Such
repentance will abide in its effects. In such the heart of the man is changed
so that he has foregone his old appetites
and
therefore
is out of the way of
temptation from his old sins. Even though it should force itself upon his
sight
he will not allow it to gain his attention
but turn away from it with a
stern watchfulness against its ensnaring deceitfulness. He sees in it the art
of the enemy of the God whom he serves
of the Redeemer whom he loves
of the
Holy Spirit whose guidance he follows. And such repentance
therefore
is both
the first and the last. But Israel
we see
made at least four several
professions of repentance; and so have many done since. The more frequent they
have been
of course the less sincere they have been. And such repentances are
more a proof of the folly and selfishness of the man
than of any right and
spiritual feeling. They are but the sorrow for having come in for the penalty of
his sin at last. And
as soon as the infliction shall have been removed
he is ready to sin again.
And
indeed
after each successive fit
he is but the more ready
because he
wishes to drown the voice of conscience
which exclaims against his yielding
again to the old temptation; and it is drowned amid his shouts of enjoyment
until the hour of penalty comes round again; then the note is that of
lamentation again. Why
what affronting of the majesty of God Almighty is here! So little can
the penitent himself depend upon a repentance which does not begin until God’s
judgment is at hand. How can a heart which he has taught to cheat him
continually
and which
at all events
has never been diligently schooled in
spiritual discernment; how shall this
at a moment
too
of such confusion
at
a time
too
when it is so deeply interested in coming to the more joyful
conclusion; how can it
with any certainty
distinguish the sorrow and fear
which arose from the love of self
now that he is in Such danger
from the love
of God
now that He is resorted to after long forgetfulness? Wilt it not be too
glad to mistake the fear for the love? Will not
indeed
the fear most
certainly be there? All this tells us
what a broken reed men lean upon who
trust in a last sickness to any feeling of repentance which they have not felt and
cherished in the time of their health. Then judgment was far off
and God was
sought therefore from love rather than from fear. Health is the time of
strength
for the spirit no less than for the body. Let health
then
be the
season of true repentance
and sickness will be the season of comfort
and the
hour of death the season of well-founded hope. (R. W. Evans
B. D.)
Verses 25-37
And like unto him there was no king before him.
Josiah’s reformation
This and the previous chapter show us the influence of a godly
sovereign. This prince at the age of twenty-six begins to repair the house of
God. This leads to the discovery of the long-lost book of the law. At once
Josiah obeys its teaching. He consults Huldah
and receives the Lord’s message.
Finding himself exempted from vengeance on account of his repentance
he
endeavours to lead his people to obtain the same exemption
and for this
purpose institutes a thorough national reformation. This
we read
consisted of
I. That personal
reformation springs from a knowledge of God’s word applied to the heart by
faith. It was this that influenced Josiah (Psalms 119:130). “The entrance of Thy
word giveth light” (Acts 17:11-12). “Therefore many
believed.”
II. That true
personal reformation consists of doing and undoing.
1. Undoing old associations
by--
2. Doing
by--
III. That personal
reformation has results:
1. Comfort and peace to those who carry it out. For thirty years
Josiah’s reign was a peaceful and happy one to himself. So soul-reformation
brings peace to the believer.
2. A blessing
though it may be only a temporary one
to those who
even outwardly
take part in it.
The punishment pronounced upon the land was deferred (2 Kings 22:20) till after Josiah’s
death
and a believer brings blessings on those around him.
3. The fulfilment of God’s word (2 Kings 23:16 and Isaiah 5:11). The Christian rejoices in
the fulfilment of Matthew 11:28-30. But notice two
warnings:
1. No personal reformation can be effected without the guidance and
grace of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8
etc.; Zechariah 4:6).
2. Personal piety cannot stop national punishment (of. Zechariah 3:2). Josiah has a grand
epitaph written over him (verse 25) by the finger of God. May much be ours! (J.
W. Mills
M. A.)
Verse 29-30
Verses 31-33
Verse 36-37
──《The Biblical Illustrator》