JOSIAH

'Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in

Jerusalem one and thirty years. 2. And 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. 3. For in the

eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek

after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to

purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and

the carved images, and the molten images. 4. 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. 5.

And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed

Judah and Jerusalem. 6. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and

Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round

about. 7. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and

had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols

throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. 8. Now in

the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the

house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor

of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the

house of the Lord his God. 9. And when they came to Hilkiah the high

priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of

God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of

Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all

Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem. 10. And they put

it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of

the Lord, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of

the Lord, to repair and amend the house: 11. Even to the artificers

and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for

couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had

destroyed. 12. And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers

of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari;

and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it

forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments

of musick. 13. Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were

overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and

of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.'--2

CHRON. xxxiv. 1-13.

Another boy king, even younger than his grandfather Manasseh had been

at his accession, and another reversal of the father's religion! These

vibrations from idolatry to Jehovah-worship, at the pleasure of the

king, sadly tell how little the people cared whom they worshipped, and

how purely a matter of ceremonies and names both their idolatry and

their Jehovah-worship were. The religion of the court was the religion

of the nation, only idolatry was more congenial than the service of

God. How far the child monarch Josiah had a deeper sense of what that

service meant we cannot decide, but the little outline sketch of him

in verses 2 and 3 is at least suggestive of his having it, and may

well stand as a fair portrait of early godliness.

A child eight years old, who had been lifted on to the throne of a

murdered father, must have had a strong will and a love of goodness to

have resisted the corrupting influences of royalty in a land full of

idols. Here again we see that, great as may be the power of

circumstances, they do not determine character; for it is always open

to us either to determine whether we yield to them or resist them. The

prevailing idolatry influenced the boy, but it influenced him to hate

it with all his heart. So out of the nettle danger we may pluck the

flower safety. The men who have smitten down some evil institution

have generally been brought up so as to feel its full force.

'He did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah'--that may mean

simply that he worshipped Jehovah by outward ceremonies, but it

probably means more; namely, that his life was pure and God-pleasing,

or, as we should say, clean and moral, free from the foul vices which

solicit a young prince. 'He walked in the ways of David his

father'--not being one of the 'emancipated' youths who think it manly

to throw off the restraints of their fathers' faith and morals. He

'turned not aside to the right hand or to the left'--but marched right

onwards on the road that conscience traced out for him, though

tempting voices called to him from many a side-alley that seemed to

lead to pleasant places. 'While he was yet young, he began to seek

after the God of David his father'--at the critical age of sixteen,

when Easterns are older than we, in the flush of early manhood, he

awoke to deeper experiences and felt the need for a closer touch of

God. A career thus begun will generally prelude a life pure,

strenuous, and blessed with a clearer and clearer vision of the God

who is always found of them that seek Him. Such a childhood,

blossoming into such a boyhood, and flowering in such a manhood, is

possible to every child among us. It will 'still bring forth fruit in

old age.'

The two incidents which the passage narrates, the purging of the land

and the repair of the Temple, are told in inverted order in 2 Kings,

but the order here is probably the more accurate, as dates are given,

whereas in 2 Kings, though the purging is related after the Temple

restoration, it is not said to have occurred after. But the order is

of small consequence. What is important is the fiery energy of Josiah

in the work of destruction of the idols. Here, there, everywhere, he

flames and consumes. He darts a flash even into the desolate ruins of

the Israelitish kingdom, where the idols had survived their devotees

and still bewitched the scanty fragments of Israel that remained. The

altars of stone were thrown down, the wooden sun-pillars were cut to

pieces, the metal images were broken and ground to powder. A clean

sweep was made.

A dash of ferocity mingled with contempt appears in Josiah's

scattering the 'dust' of the images on the graves of their

worshippers, as if he said: 'There you lie together, pounded idols and

dead worshippers, neither able to help the other!' The same feelings

prompted digging up the skeletons of priests and burning the bones on

the very altars that they had served, thus defiling the altars and

executing judgment on the priests. No doubt there were much violence

and a strong strain of the 'wrath of man' in all this. Iconoclasts are

wont to be 'violent'; and men without convictions, or who are

partisans of what the iconoclasts are rooting out, are horrified at

their want of 'moderation.' But though violence is always unchristian,

indifference to rampant evils is not conspicuously more Christian,

and, on the whole, you cannot throttle snakes in a graceful attitude

or without using some force to compress the sinuous neck.

The restoration of the Temple comes after the cleansing of the land,

in Chronicles, and naturally in the order of events, for the casting

out of idols must always precede the building or repairing of the

Temple of God. Destructive work is very poor unless it is for the

purpose of clearing a space to build the Temple on. Happy the man or

the age which is able to do both! Josiah and Joash worked at restoring

the Temple in much the same fashion, but Josiah had a priesthood more

interested than Joash had.

But we may note one or two points in his restoration. He had put his

personal effort into the preparatory extirpation of idols, but he did

not need to do so now. He could work this time by deputy. And it is

noteworthy that he chose 'laymen' to carry out the restoration.

Perhaps he knew how Joash had been balked by the knavery of the

priests who were diligent in collecting money, but slow in spending it

on the Temple. At all events, he delegated the work to three

highly-placed officials, the secretary of state, the governor of

Jerusalem, and the official historian.

It appears that for some time a collection had been going on for

Temple repairs; probably it had been begun six years before, when the

'purging' of the land began. It had been carried on by the Levites,

and had been contributed to even by 'the remnant of Israel' in the

northern kingdom, who, in their forlorn weakness, had begun to feel

the drawings of ancient brotherhood and the tie of a common worship.

This fund was in the keeping of the high priest, and the three

commissioners were instructed to require it from him. Here 2 Kings is

clearer than our passage, and shows that what the three officials had

mainly to do was to get the money from Hilkiah, and to hand it over to

the superintendents of the works.

There are two remarkable points in the narrative; one is the

observation that 'the men did the work faithfully,' which comes in

rather enigmatically here, but in 2 Kings is given as the reason why

no accounts were kept. Not an example to be imitated, and the sure way

to lead subordinates sooner or later to deal unfaithfully; but a

pleasant indication of the spirit animating all concerned.

Surely these men worked 'as ever in the great Taskmaster's eye.' That

is what makes us work faithfully, whether we have any earthly overseer

or audit or no. Another noteworthy matter is that not only were the

superintendents of the work--the 'contractors,' as we might

say--Levites, but so were also the inferior superintendents, or, as we

might say, 'foremen.'

And not only so, but they were those that 'were skilful with

instruments of music.' What were musicians doing there? Did the

building rise

'with the sound

Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet?'

May we not gather from this singular notice the great thought that for

all rearing of the true Temple, harps of praise are no less necessary

than swords or trowels, and that we shall do no right work for God or

man unless we do it as with melody in our hearts? Our lives must be

full of music if we are to lay even one stone in the Temple.