Josiah

2 Kings 22-23

            Josiah was a reform-minded king. We’ll find out more in 2 Chronicles, but here he wants to renovate the temple, the last renovation having been about 150 years earlier under Joash. In the midst of the work, they found a copy of the Book of the Law. We’ll never know for sure, but some scholars think they found the whole Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy) and others think they found Deuteronomy. Either way, it’s a strange thing to have misplaced an entire portion of your holiest book for so long that no one was familiar with it. It says something about how far Judah had fallen. How were they even running the temple if they didn’t have the instruction manual? The whole incident leads to a moment of repentance and covenant renewal, including a thorough purging of idolatrous high places and a reinstitution of the Passover.

            For all the good Josiah did, he couldn’t wash away everything that Manasseh, his father, had done. And his own son, Jehoahaz, went right back to the muck. For that matter, Josiah, himself wasn’t perfect. He got himself involved in a war between the major powers of his day (Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon). So, Josiah’s reforms at best are a brake on the downfall of Israel, but the downfall is coming.