Josiah had rid the kingdom of everything that was evil and not in accordance with God’s word. He pursued God with his whole heart. Look at what scripture says about him: “There was no king to compare with Josiah–neither before nor after….turned in total and repentant obedience to GOD, heart and mind and strength…world would never again see a king like Josiah”. This was one serious and devoted king. He had the people on a crash course of repentance and obedience. So what was God’s response to this one in a lifetime kind of man? Despite Josiah, GOD’s hot anger did not cool. Did you expect that? My goodness, Josiah did everything humanly possible to follow God’s commands. He was obsessed with correcting the errors of the past and present. He cleaned it all up. Yet God did not cool in his anger toward the people. Too little too late seems to be the description that fits here. While Josiah worked the last years of his life trying to rectify the situation with God, the sins of the past could not just be overlooked and ignored by God. How we live matters men. Not just today, but for our legacy and those who follow. We need to realize the impact of our life….
Want the really sad news of this chapter. Josiah is followed by two sons, Jehoahaz who ruled for a mere three months and Jehoiakim who ruled for 11 years. Scripture tells us they both were “evil kings in God’s eyes”. Can you believe this? Their father spent years destroying the sin of the people and they immediately fall back to it. Oh the power of sin. It will keep its stranglehold unless we let God empower us to defeat it once and for all.
asorensen