Josiah / 2 Kings 22-23 / 2 Chronicles 34

Let me invite you guys to have a seat. Happy post-Fourth of July to all of you! My name is Mike, and if I haven’t met you, it is great to be with you. If you can’t tell, I have some accoutrements that I gained yesterday. No, these are not firework injuries—I had a high-speed accident on my bicycle. Going down a hill was great yesterday until it wasn’t! So, no hugs afterward; my body is in a whole lot of pain. The rest of it I can’t show you, or this would be a rated-R sermon, so you can use your imagination. But it is good to be with you guys, and I am glad to be here.

We are going to continue in our series in the book of Kings. I invite you to turn to 2 Kings chapter 22. We are going to look at the life of a guy that, honestly, you are going to fall in love with. He is a king by the name of Josiah, one of the greatest kings in all of the history of Israel and Judah. He is an amazing man and one that I am really excited to teach on.

The Plumb Line of Israel’s Kings

As you make your way to 2 Kings 22, let me give you a bit of background. Total, we have thirty-nine kings: nineteen in the North (Israel) and twenty in the South (Judah). Josiah was one of the twenty that reigned in the South. In fact, he is the last good king we see. There are five or six kings after him in Judah before the end.

As we have talked about in this series, the central theme is seeing the King of Kings in light of these lesser kings. Maybe like none other in a positive way, you are going to get an amazing glimpse of Jesus through this king who walked faithfully with God. Week one, we talked about how a king’s primary role was to worship God, to rid Israel of idolatry, and to remain faithful to the covenant. Josiah does all of these things.

The author of 2 Kings describes Josiah in a way that every one of us would want written on our tombstone:

2 Kings 23:25 (NASB)

Before him there was no king like him who 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; nor did any like him arise after him.

He becomes, much like David, the plumb line for all the kings. When looking backward, there is no one to compare him to, and none come after him with this level of godliness and commitment.

His father was a man named Amon, who was an evil king. His grandfather was Manasseh, the most evil king in Judah’s history. For fifty-seven years, his grandfather and father instituted wickedness in the land. That is the backdrop. Josiah’s father was murdered by his own servants in his home, and Josiah became king when he was only eight years old.

2 Kings 22:1 (NASB)

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name [was] Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

Can you imagine that? Being installed as king as a first or second grader? To have that kind of absolute power, position, and influence at eight years old? We find out he reigned thirty-one years. He dies in battle later in life against Pharaoh Neco of Egypt. Everything we are going to see him accomplish, he does before the age of thirty-nine. It is humbling for a guy like me who is forty-two to think through his resume—everything he achieved was done before forty.

When Josiah took the throne, the spiritual condition of the nation was completely in the toilet. It had been there for almost six decades. During his reign, there was no longer a Northern Kingdom; they had already been conquered and deported by Assyria. Josiah is holding down the fort in the southern region of Judah.

2 Kings 22:2 (NASB)

He did right in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the way of his father David, nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left.

He walked in the way of David. The text says he did not turn aside to the right or to the left. That phrase literally means he never departed from the Word of God; it was his bedrock foundation. That is said of only two other kings: Asa and Hezekiah. God Himself testifies to Josiah’s godliness through the prophetess Huldah.

2 Kings 22:18-19 (NASB)

’But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD thus shall you say to him, ’Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘[Regarding] the words which you have heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,’ declares the LORD.

God tells him, “Josiah, judgment and destruction are coming on this place because of the men who ruled before you. But because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself when you heard My words, you will be gathered to your grave in peace.” What an incredible king.

The Five Accomplishments of Josiah

As we skim through chapters 22 and 23, I want to show you five major accomplishments in Josiah’s life. In honor of Shay, they will all start with the letter R.

1. He Repairs the Temple

In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he was twenty-six years old, Josiah decided to take the temple—which had been desecrated and filled with idols by his father and grandfather—and repair it.

2 Kings 22:5-6 (NASB)

’Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD, and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the LORD to repair the damages of the house, to the carpenters and the builders and the masons and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house.

For six decades, the temple had lain in ruins, functioning as a house of idolatry. Josiah says, “No more. We are going to rebuild the temple and worship the God of Abraham here as we are commanded to do.”

2. He Recovers the Law

While repairing the temple, Hilkiah the high priest made an incredible discovery.

2 Kings 22:8 (NASB)

Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD.’ And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan who read it.

Can you imagine that? They are cleaning house and say, “Hey, by the way, we found the Torah! No one has bothered to read it for sixty years, but we found it.” They bring the scroll out to the king.

2 Kings 22:11 (NASB)

When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes.

When Josiah hears the Word of God, he tears his clothes. He enters into deep mourning and repentance. He hears Scripture for the first time, and it convicts him to the core. He realizes the life of the nation and his own life do not line up with God’s standards. He weeps and mourns. He hears the accounts of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the wilderness wanderings, and God’s covenant faithfulness, and he cannot contain himself.

2 Kings 22:13 (NASB)

‘Go, inquire of the LORD for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the LORD that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.’

He says, “Judgment is coming because we have not obeyed God.” Josiah was wrecked to the core. He allowed the Word of God to change him first before he took it to the people.

3. He Renews the Covenant

Next, Josiah calls a national assembly.

2 Kings 23:1-3 (NASB)

Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. The king went up to 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 hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD. The king stood by the 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 [his] heart and all [his] soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.

Josiah simply opens the Bible and reads it to a people who haven’t heard it in six decades. Then he stands by the pillar and makes a covenant to walk after the Lord with all his heart and soul. Josiah draws a line in the sand and says, “As king, I am going first. We are going to walk with God.” Seeing his authentic, humble repentance, the entire nation follows his lead.

4. He Reforms the Nation

Josiah doesn’t stop with words; he moves into radical action.

2 Kings 23:4-7 (NASB)

Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. He did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the host of heaven. He brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and ground [it] to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people. He also broke down the houses of the [male] cult prostitutes which [were] in the house of the LORD, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah.

He cleans house. He burns the vessels of Baal and Asherah. He removes the idolatrous priests. He tears down the quarters of the male cult prostitutes inside the temple. He defiles Topheth so no one can sacrifice their children to Molech.

He doesn’t stop in Judah, either. He travels north into what used to be Israel.

2 Kings 23:15 (NASB)

Furthermore, the altar that [was] at Bethel [and] the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah.

That altar at Bethel built by Jeroboam had stood for three hundred years, and not a single king had torn it down. Josiah takes personal responsibility and destroys it. He goes all the way north to Naphtali, purging idolatry across the entire land.

5. He Reinstitutes the Passover

Finally, Josiah calls the nation back to covenant worship.

2 Kings 23:21-22 (NASB)

Then the king commanded all the people saying, ‘Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God as it is written in this book of the covenant.’ Surely such a Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah.

Passover had not been celebrated like this since the days of the judges. Josiah brings everyone together as one family. Chronicles tells us they sacrificed thirty thousand lambs, with thousands provided from Josiah’s own herds. People even traveled down from the remnants of the Northern Kingdom to celebrate.

Look at that resume: he repairs the temple, recovers the law, renews the covenant, reforms the nation, and reinstitutes the Passover. Who wouldn’t want a legacy like that?

What Happened Below the Waterline

What made this man so great? What happened between the ages of eight and twenty-five that gave him the spiritual fortitude to accomplish all this? To find out, we have to turn to 2 Chronicles 34.

Ezra records a detail that Kings leaves out:

2 Chronicles 34:3 (NASB)

For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images.

In the eighth year of his reign, at sixteen years old, while he was still a youth, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David. From age sixteen to nineteen, he made an intentional choice to do one thing: seek God. No building projects are recorded, no idols are smashed yet. For four years, he simply built below the waterline.

About twenty years ago, I came across the story of a sailor named Mike Plant. In the fall of 1992, Plant prepared for his third single-handed, non-stop race around the world. He was an expert, the cream of the crop among sailors. He built a state-of-the-art, $650,000 sailboat named Coyote—the Mercedes of the boat world.

He set sail from New York toward France. For eleven days, he checked in daily, but then all contact was lost. After days of searching, rescue planes spotted the Coyote floating upside down a thousand miles off the coast of France. There was no sign of Plant. His body was never recovered.

Sailboats are designed not to capsize because of a heavy fin beneath the hull called a keel. The Coyote had an 8,400-pound bulb of lead attached to its keel to counterbalance the wind and waves above. The rule of sailing is simple: there must always be more weight below the waterline than above it. When investigators examined the capsized boat, they found that the 8,400-pound bulb had detached and fallen off. There was nothing below the waterline to keep the vessel upright.

Friends, that is the lesson of Josiah. As a sixteen-year-old, knowing the power and responsibility that lay ahead, he chose to invest heavily below the waterline.

Three Intentional Decisions

When we look at 2 Chronicles 34, we see three intentional decisions Josiah made during those obscure years:

1. He Took Personal Responsibility for His Spiritual Life

The text says he “began to seek God.” That word means to inquire, search, investigate, or consult. Its root carries the idea of treading wheat—a continuous, repeated action. Josiah didn’t wait around passively. He had every excuse to blame his crazy father and wicked grandfather, but he didn’t play the victim. He took personal responsibility for his faith.

What about you? In the quiet moments—what is often called the lonely work—are you intentionally building below the waterline? Have you recognized that there is a King, and you are not Him? High school students, the greatest season of Josiah’s life started right where you are, between sixteen and nineteen. And for those of us who are older, it is never too late to start today.

2. He Embraced Obscurity

Imagine having royal authority at sixteen and choosing to spend years in quiet obscurity, simply seeking the Lord. Josiah recognized that before God uses anyone publicly, He shapes them privately. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness. Paul spent three years in Arabia relearning the Scriptures. Joseph spent thirteen years in slavery and prison before God raised him up.

We live in a culture that tells us obscurity is for losers. We want to be known, visible, and affirmed online. But God is pleased when we have the courage to walk faithfully in obscurity, allowing Him to build our character before He builds our platform.

3. He Chose the Path of Greatest Resistance

When the time came to act, Josiah did not take the easy road. For fifty-seven years, idolatry had been the cultural norm. Josiah swam upstream like a salmon. He tore down the idols, fired the false priests, and confronted centuries of rebellion.

Even after Huldah the prophetess told him that judgment on the nation was inevitable, Josiah didn’t give up. He said, “For the thirty-one years God has given me, we are going to walk with the Lord.”

2 Chronicles 34:33 (NASB)

Josiah removed all the abominations from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel to serve the LORD their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn from following the LORD God of their fathers.

For thirty-one years, because of one man’s courage to build below the waterline, an entire generation walked with God.

Walking with the King

Josiah sought God, discovered His Word, submitted to His truth, and reoriented his entire life around Scripture. We are called to do the exact same thing. We are called to submit our lives to the true King of Kings, Jesus Christ, who laid down His life on the cross so that we could be forgiven and restored to the Father.

As you reflect on Josiah, do not merely admire his public achievements. Look at those quiet years of obscurity where he built his foundation. May it be said of us that we took personal responsibility, embraced the quiet work of God, and refused to turn to the right or to the left.

Let’s pray.

Father, thank You for this text and for the opportunity to see an earthly king who points us to our great King, Jesus Christ. Thank You for Josiah’s example of humility, repentance, and courage. God, take our lives, our gifts, and our resources, and use them for Your kingdom. Would You give us the courage to build below the waterline? Help us to walk faithfully with You in our city and our generation, never turning to the right or to the left. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.