So finally, we have a good story about a good king. I thought after last week’s reading we particularly needed that.
A lot has happened though since that reading so again I will begin with a little recap so as to establish where we are in the story. Again we have our genealogy to help us.
Last week we read about Queen Athaliah and her son Joash. Athaliah was the daughter of King Ahab. During this series we have heard a lot about King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. They are arguably Israel’s most notorious monarchs.
Their story takes up 6 chapters of kings (most of the other kings only get one or two chapters if that). Their conflict with the prophet Elijah, who is always there to challenge their idolatry, greed and violence, looms large in the the books of kings but also in the history and imagination of the Hebrew Scriptures. Thus we too have given much time to their story.
Ahab ruled the Northern Kingdom of Israel from 874 to 853 BCE. It was him and Jezebel who introduced the worship of Baal to Israel.
His daughter Athaliah married king Jehoram of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. This was in a political alliance that sought to ease the tensions between the two kingdoms. But Athaliah established Baal worship in Judah.
When her son, king Ahaziah, is killed along with his uncle the king of Israel, by Jehu, an army commander seeking to wipe out Ahab’s descendants, she makes herself queen over Judah. She then sets about on her own murderous rampage trying to destroy anyone who might make a claim to the throne, including her grandchildren.
But her son’s sister, to another wife of Jehoram, rescues one of her nephews, Joash and hides him for 6 years. When Joash is 7, Jehosheba’s husband, the priest Jehoida, arranges a revolt again the Queen. She is killed and Joash is made king, restoring the line of David.
Joash reigns in Judah from 835-796 BCE.
Joash is mostly a “good” king. He deals with some financial corruption that had made its way into the temple and makes some repairs of the buildings. Although he does not destroy all the so called “high places” where the people worship other gods. And when the priest Jehoida dies he too worships these other gods.
Today’s story we have jumped forward 160 years to 640 BCE. There have been 8 kings of Judah since Joash. The story of these kings continues to be a mixed bag. Most of them are violent, plagued by greed, idolatry and a hunger for power. They are willing to sacrifice their people in war to gain more. Under Ahaz who ruled from 732-716 BCE Judah become a vassal state to Assyria but his son Hezekiah rebelled against Assyria and regained independence. He was the first king of Judah to “remove the high places” and stop idolatry.
But his son Manasseh rebuilt the high places and the altars for Baal and Asherah. He even reintroduced child sacrifice and he is described as shedding very much innocent blood and thus doing evil in the sight of the Lord.
His son Amon continued in the way of his father.
But Amon’s son is Josiah who we read about today.
Meanwhile, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. Many of the residents of the capital Samaria and its surroundings were taken into exile into Assyria. And deportees from other conquered territories were brought in to take their place. These newcomers, eventually intermarried with the remaining Israelites, giving rise to the Samaritan community, who as we know from the New Testament become the arch nemeses of the Jews.
But returning to the South and the story of Josiah.
In his 18th year Josiah, like Joash, seeks to make repairs to the temple. He sends the secretary Shapham to the high priest, Hilkiah to tell him to count the money that has been given by the people and to give that money to the workers – the carpenters, the builders, and the masons – so that they can make repairs to the house.
Shapham goes to Hilkiah to tell him to do this and Hilkiah tells Shapham he has found the book (which is in fact a scroll) of the law in the house of the Lord.
This discovery raises several questions. Was Hilkiah’s discovery a result of the renovations? Was it hidden to keep it from being destroyed perhaps by Manasseh or one of the other evil kings? Or did he inadvertently find just it forgotten on a shelf and took Shaphan’s visit as an opportunity to disclose its existence?
We do not know.
But Shapham returns to the king and tells him that that the book of the law has been found, although for Shapham this does not seem as important as telling him the money has been given to the workers. Shapham reads it to King Josiah. For Josiah it is life changing. On hearing it he tears his clothes in the realisation that he and his ancestors have not obeyed the words of this book.
Scholars have long debated the contents of the book. The general consensus is that it is some version of the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy presents the final sermons of Moses. These sermons are heavy with law and expressions of God’s will for how Israel should live its life in the land. These laws are given Deuteronomy says, “for the wellbeing of the people.”
There are of course the 10 commandments but also directives to care for the widow, the orphan, the foreigner – the most vulnerable amongst them as well as the land itself.
There are limits placed on debt collection, prosperity, sexual activity, the acquisition of land and on royal power. We do not like limits but when Josiah read these laws and compared that with the excesses of his ancestors in all these areas, he tore his clothes. No doubt aware of the harm caused by their excessiveness.
He called the people together, he read to them all the words of the book and before them he re-made the covenant with God, promising to follow his commandments, decrees and statutes with all his heart and his soul. The people joined in the covenant.
It seems Josiah, unlike many of us today, was willing to look at his history and acknowledge the injustices done by his ancestors and that perhaps he has in fact benefited from it. He was willing to repent, makes changes and to seek to do better. In verse 25 of this chapter It says, “there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his might.”
Unfortunately, King Josiah was eventually killed by Pharoah Neco of Egypt. He reigned 33 years. His sons become kings which we will hear more about next week in our final week of this series but they quickly undo the good reforms that Josiah has made. I have to say with the return of spit hoods on the agenda this all seems very contemporary and relevant.
This week marked three years since my ordination and becoming the minister of this church. Not without its challenges of course but it has mostly been the most wonderful three years for me. I know that I have said this before but let me take the opportunity to again say how much I love this church and everyone of you and I am just so grateful that I get to be your minister.
As it has been three years we have returned to the lectionary readings for that week. We are not following the lectionary this year but I found myself again reading them. The psalm for this week was psalm 19 which we opened with. It is a good psalm for all of us but it seemed particularly good for a minster whose role involves a lot of speaking. And so I have found myself returning to it a lot this past three years.
It also seemed relevant to this text. It is a psalm that I think is good for a king. It is one attributed to David, Josiah’s ancestor, and I like to think perhaps it was a psalm he knew and cherished. That it expressed something he came to know when he discovered the book of the law in the house of the Lord. Something we and this world may yet discover.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
They are more precious than gold, they are sweeter than honey,
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be
pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
