Kings of Judah and Israel
Part 3

FOLLOWING the death of Hezekiah, his son Manasseh became king of Judah. He was the thirteenth king of the two-tribe kingdom of Judah. He ascended the throne at the age of twelve, and reigned fifty-five years. But it was not an illustrious reign, as was that of Hezekiah, his father. The record is that he “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.”—II Chron. 33:2

Manasseh restored the heathen idols and their worship, which had been destroyed by his father. He “made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.”—II Chron. 33:9,10

Then the Lord “brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.” (vs. 11) This unexpected interference by the Lord had a salutary effect upon Manasseh. The record states: “When he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him.”—vss. 12,13

The Lord heard the king’s prayer and delivered him from his captivity in Babylon. Thereupon Manasseh did his utmost to restore the worship of the true God throughout the land “and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the Lord their God only.”—vss. 16,17

“So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.” (vs. 20) While, as a result of severe discipline from the Lord, Manasseh had repented of his sin, he did not gain the right to be buried in a sepulchre of the house of David. He was not looked upon by the Lord or by the people as one of the truly good kings of Judah.

Amon his son reigned in his stead, but he was king of Judah for only two years, and during that short period he did “that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them; and humbled not himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.”—vss. 22,23

A conspiracy was formed against Amon by his own “house,” and he was slain. After this, the people conspired against those who had slain the king and killed them. Then the people made Josiah, Amon’s son, king in his stead.

Judah’s Last Good King

Josiah was only eight years old when he began to reign, and he was king of Judah for thirty years. He was the last of Judah’s righteous kings. The record is that “he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.”—II Chron. 34:1,2

When Josiah was only sixteen “he began to seek after the God of David his father.” Four years after this “he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.”—vss. 3,4

Verses 5 to 7 of the chapter continue to describe Josiah’s work of destroying heathen worship throughout Judah, and not only throughout Judah, but Israel as well. It is important, historically, to remember that the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel had fallen, and while many from the ten tribes had been taken captive into Assyria, there were still many left in the Holy Land, and these now naturally came under the rulership of the kings of Judah. So, Josiah extended his work of reformation throughout Israel as well as Judah.

With this work well under way, Josiah’s next godly act was to set about repairing the holy temple in Jerusalem, so that the worship of the true God might be reinstituted there. This was in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he was twenty-six years old. For this important undertaking he secured the services of Shaphan, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah, the son of Joahaz the recorder.

Hilkiah was the high priest at the time, and he cooperated by making available funds which had previously been collected by the Levites—money which had been donated by the people of Judah and also by “all the remnant of Israel.” (vs. 9) This money was turned over to the workmen who had charge of the repair work, and the work proceeded to the glory of God.—vss. 10-13

The funds for repairing the temple had been collected in advance and stored in the temple. “When they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.” This was a sensational find, and the book was taken to Josiah the king and read to him.

While the king had endeavored at the early age of sixteen to draw near to the Lord and through the years had championed the cause of the God of Israel and Judah, he did not realize the many ways in which the nation had transgressed those laws until he heard the book of the law read to him. “It came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.”—vs. 19

At the time there was a prophetess in Jerusalem named Huldah. Apparently she was recognized for her righteousness and loyalty to the Lord and had the confidence of the people, and even of the king. The king recognized that for generations the people of both Judah and Israel had come far short of obeying the law which had been given to them by the Lord at the hands of Moses; and after hearing this law and its penalties read, he was properly concerned over the fate of the nation. So he sent messengers to Huldah to get what he believed would be an authoritative statement of what to expect.

The reply from Huldah was much as Josiah had thought. The prophetess said: “Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah.” (vs. 24) But Huldah had a word of comfort for Josiah. She reported the Lord’s words for him: “Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.”—vs. 27

Even Josiah’s righteousness, however, could not prevent the judgments of the Lord from being inflicted against the disobedient people of Judah and Israel. But God did postpone the calamity for Josiah’s sake. He promised, “Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same.”—vs. 28

Thus Josiah was assured that peace would reign in the land as long as he lived. There is an interesting sidelight to this promise of the Lord. Josiah was to fall asleep in death, which meant that his eyes would not see the evil that would later come upon the nation. This is contrary to the view that the dead are more alive than ever and that they see and know everything that is occurring in their former habitat. Instead, we have here another example of the Bible’s consistent teaching that “the dead know not anything.”—Eccl. 9:5

A Covenant Made

A long time had passed in Judah without any detailed knowledge of God’s law, except as it had been handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. When Josiah learned how much there really was to the Lord’s law, he made a covenant to “keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.”—vs. 31

Even the wording of this covenant—“with all his heart, and with all his soul”—had evidently been taken out of the book of the law which had been found in the temple. Not only did the king enter into a covenant with the Lord to obey the law, but he also enjoined “all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.”—vs. 32

Josiah pressed his work of reformation throughout “all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.” (vs. 33) Here again we see that the remnant of the ten-tribe kingdom came under the jurisdiction of the king of Judah, who in reality was the only rightful ruler of the nation, being of the lineage of David. The supposition that God continued to deal with and specially bless the people of the ten tribes who had previously been taken captive into Assyria is a myth and is wholly unscriptural.

The Passover Kept

Josiah continued his work of restoring the worship of Jehovah, the God of Israel. He next called upon the people to observe the passover. He called upon the priests and the Levites to make everything in readiness for this celebration, which was to be held properly on the fourteenth day of the first month. The king personally donated the huge number of thirty thousand lambs and kids for the purpose, and three thousand bullocks. “These were of the king’s substance.”—ch. 35:7

The “princes” of the land gave willingly twenty-six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen, and others also donated “five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen” for use in connection with the passover. “So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king’s commandment.” (vss. 8-10) Verse 18 declares that “there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet.”

The good king Hezekiah had called upon the people to observe the passover; but, not having the book of the law as a guide, there were probably certain features of the ceremony not properly carried out. Besides, under Hezekiah it was observed in the second month instead of the first. Probably these are among the reasons for the statement that not since the days of Samuel had the passover been kept as it was this time under the jurisdiction of Josiah.

An Early Death

“After all this, …” verse 20 states, “Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.” Necho sent ambassadors to Josiah, explaining that he had not come to fight against him. Necho was really the pharaoh of Egypt at the time and was later to be permitted to extend his control over Judah. But God had promised Josiah that he would not see the evils that would come upon the land, and apparently Necho realized that he was not as yet to attempt to subjugate Judah.

But Josiah insisted upon going to battle against Necho and in so doing was mortally wounded. He was taken back to Jerusalem, where shortly afterward he died. He had been a good king, and “all Judah and Jerusalem” mourned for him.—vss. 22-24

The Prophet Jeremiah was now in Judah, and he also, and understandably, lamented the death of the young king Josiah. The marginal reference cites Lamentations 4:20 as Jeremiah’s reference to Josiah. The text reads, “The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.” Possibly the thought here is that because God had promised Judah peace during Josiah’s lifetime he was as a shadow of protection to the people, but now that he was dead, the evils foretold in the book of the law were sure to fall. Certainly Jeremiah, a prophet of the Lord, would know this.

Judah’s Fall

Only four more kings were to reign in Judah before the people were taken captive to Babylon. The first was Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah. He was the last to be made king by the people, and he was permitted to reign only three months. He was two years younger than his brother Eliakim (whose name was changed to Jehoiakim by the king of Egypt) and may have been chosen by the people as king rather than his brother because the people saw in him certain characteristics of righteousness. Under the many years of reformation by Josiah, it is reasonable to believe that the people would give some consideration to this in choosing their new king.

But the penalty of the law was about due to fall upon the nation. The “seven times” of special punishment were soon to begin to count. (Lev. 26:18,21,24,28; Dan. 4:16,23,25,32) Nothing the people could now do would avert this evil coming upon them. Thus, Necho of Egypt was permitted to move in and dethrone the king whom they had chosen and to make his older brother king instead, and Jehoahaz was taken captive to Egypt.—II Chron. 36:1-4

Jehoiakim reigned eleven years, “and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.” (vs. 5) By this time Babylon was gaining the ascendancy over Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar dethroned Jehoiakim “and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.” However, Jehoiakim served Nebuchadnezzar for three years. It was only when he rebelled that he was dethroned and taken to Babylon.—II Kings 24:1

Jehoiakim’s eight-year-old son then was made king, but he reigned only three months and ten days when Nebuchadnezzar took him to Babylon and appointed Zedekiah king instead. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old, and he ruled eleven years. The record is that “he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar …: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel.”—II Chron. 36:11-13

Under Zedekiah’s rulership the people also departed from the Lord, following the example of their king. “They mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.”—vs. 16

The end of the typical kingdom of Judah had come. The Chaldeans moved in, the city and temple were destroyed, and Zedekiah, with his subjects, was taken captive. God pronounced his judgment upon Zedekiah through the Prophet Ezekiel, saying: “And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.”—Ezek. 21:25-27

When Zedekiah was dethroned, the typical kingdom of Judah came to an end. But God’s covenant with David remained sure. God ruled in Israel through the various kings who sat upon his throne, but this arrangement was to cease—not forever, but “until he come whose right it is,” and this, of course, is the Messiah, the Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

This real King of Israel and the world is the One described by Isaiah as “The Prince of Peace,” of whom it is written: “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”—Isa. 9:6,7

Thank God for the assurance that his “zeal” will bring about the fulfillment of all his glorious promises of blessing for the people under the rulership of the messianic kingdom. May his promises continue to be an inspiration for us to serve him faithfully and to look forward with joy to the triumph of righteousness under the rulership of his Anointed, the great antitypical David.

Go to Part 18