Unique Heart
2 Kings 23:25
Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
This is an intriguingly powerful statement about Josiah. I want to fully appreciate it before I go on to the bad news. "Neither before"--I have to take this at face value. I have to include David and nearer ancestor Hezekiah. But it doesn't say exactly the same thing as David's assessment--a man after God's own heart. No one ever turned to the LORD as Josiah did, this man made king at 8 years of age, grandson of dreadful King Manasseh, whose own father was assassinated after only two years of Manasseh-like rule.
Josiah hadn't any opportunity to learn good from his predecessors. But when he encountered God's word, he had a turning. Then he turned with all he had. It was no mere change of mind. This verse bookends the chapter that is Josiah's legacy, the gorgeously full-on rampage of righteous anger that swept over Judah.
The bad news is there was never such a king after him, either. There was hardly even a king worth the name after he met his end going to war against Egypt. Manasseh's fifty-five year war on the True God of Israel had done damage too profound for a cure, though Josiah gave it his best.
27 So the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, 'There shall my Name be.'"
Remember that? God said that when Solomon dedicated the Temple. I wondered then how it all happened, that it would come to an end. Here it is. The false worship had gone bone-deep. It could not be scraped off and painted over.
But for Josiah, a lovely and unique epitaph.
Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
This is an intriguingly powerful statement about Josiah. I want to fully appreciate it before I go on to the bad news. "Neither before"--I have to take this at face value. I have to include David and nearer ancestor Hezekiah. But it doesn't say exactly the same thing as David's assessment--a man after God's own heart. No one ever turned to the LORD as Josiah did, this man made king at 8 years of age, grandson of dreadful King Manasseh, whose own father was assassinated after only two years of Manasseh-like rule.
Josiah hadn't any opportunity to learn good from his predecessors. But when he encountered God's word, he had a turning. Then he turned with all he had. It was no mere change of mind. This verse bookends the chapter that is Josiah's legacy, the gorgeously full-on rampage of righteous anger that swept over Judah.
The bad news is there was never such a king after him, either. There was hardly even a king worth the name after he met his end going to war against Egypt. Manasseh's fifty-five year war on the True God of Israel had done damage too profound for a cure, though Josiah gave it his best.
27 So the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, 'There shall my Name be.'"
Remember that? God said that when Solomon dedicated the Temple. I wondered then how it all happened, that it would come to an end. Here it is. The false worship had gone bone-deep. It could not be scraped off and painted over.
But for Josiah, a lovely and unique epitaph.
posted by ruthees @ 1:17 PM
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