A Character Study on Josiah:
A Character Study on Josiah: A child who became a King, A King who became a Zealot, A Zealot who became the last man standing.
As we delved into the life of Josiah, the context of his life was taken into picture. We notice that the lineage of Josiah was an unstable one- Unstable in their belief in God. If one ruler followed God’s word, his successor didn’t. A few rulers did evil in the sight of God and worshipped pagan gods. This displeased God. Josiah’s father was one of those who didn’t follow God. Josiah grew up in a degenerate time, with a bad role model and his age was not particulary in his favour. Josiah was 8 years old when he became king and had all the reasons to stay away from God. A trending culture and a bad upbringing yet he stood out of the crowd and found his faith in God.
2 Chronicles 34-35 lines out the story of Josiah. Despite his disadvantage of being young (8 years) he still sought God. We remember the verse in Ecc 12:1 that says, “Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the silver chords are broken. We are reminded that we must seek the Lord when we are young,
seek the Lord when he can be found.”
When Josiah reached the age of 20 (2 Ch 34:3) he began purging the high places of pagan dieties. He started cleasing his land from things that displeased God. This calls us to look into our own lives and weed out the idols in our lives, do we look for comfort? For gratification in the idols of our lives or have we started weeding and purging our lives of priorities and idols that displease God?
There was a prophecy about Josiah in 1 Kings 13:2, and we notice that in 2 Ch 34:5-6 Josiah is the fulfilment of the prophecy. Medidating on this,
we understand that becuase of his faithfulness to God he was able to fulfil his call. We as believers are called to be the salt of the earth, not the sugar of society. We must learn to abhor evil and be lovers of God. We cannot be both.
When Josiah was 26 (2 Ch 34:8) Josiah started repairing and restoring the temple of God which was in ruins. This was a reminder to us to start rebuilding the church of Christ and before that restoring our lives, our relationships. As Josiah sought God, he found the book of law (2 Ch 34:18-19) and on reading the book, he wept with a broken spirit. When God shows us our wrong, we must be quick to repent and go back to him with a contrite spirit. Because he did so, God accepted him (2 Ch 34:26-27).
The Bible says his heart was tender and humble before God- this again is a call for our hearts to ever be receptive and ready for correction from God. Josiah then goes on to build a new lifestlye for his people and his kingdom (2 Ch 34:31) he commands his people to walk in the statues of the Lord. In 2 CH 35:16-18, Josiah is set to arrange a feast of the passover, as such was not done before since the time of Samuel the Prophet. Here we see the zeal Josiah had for the things of God. He did it with all his heart. He reigned for 31 years and died at the age of 39.
In such a short time Josiah made an impact to his generation.
To sum up the learnings:
- Josiah sought God while he was young. Let our age never be a factor in our longing for God.
- At 20 he purged his land of all filth. Let us examine ourselves and start cleaning the impurity in our lives.
- He loved God and hated evil. Let us learn to be set apart and pure.
- He repaired and restored the temple. Let us restore ourselves and Christ’s church.
- He created a new order. Let us adhere to a new covenant and lifestyle, a life pleasing and worthy to God.