Jeremiah and Josiah

About 650 years before the birth of Jesus two boys grew up in Judah who were to have a profound effect upon the spiritual life of God's people. They were born during the long reign of Judah's king Manasseh. It was at a time when the pagan empire of Assyria greatly influenced the people of Israel. Sacrifices to idols became a major part of the worship of God's people. When Manasseh died, his son Amon did not reign for long and was quickly assassinated by men of the royal court. But ordinary folk of Judah were determined to keep David's family on the throne and by common consent the boy prince Josiah was made king (2 Chron.33.21-25).

All this happened about the year BC 639 and Josiah ruled in Jerusalem for three decades. Just before this, in the town of Anathoth in Benjamin, Jeremiah was born and grew up in the traditions of a provincial priest. He was of the family of Abiathar. While still in his teen-years Jeremiah was called by God to become a prophet. At the beginning of his prophetic writings Jeremiah tells us that he felt too inexperienced to speak on God's behalf because of his youthfulness (Jer.1.6).

As Assyrian influence in the Middle East started to weaken, the 16 year old Josiah began the process of reform and the cleansing of the land from foreign idolatry (2 Chron.34.3). The young king, like Hezekiah before him, resolutely returned to the true faith of Israel in the steps of his ancestor David. The pagan altars and images were destroyed. The work of reform spread beyond the borders of Judah into the whole land of Israel. A century before, the Assyrians had captured Samaria and deported a large proportion of the Ten Tribes of Israel to Assyria (2 Kings 17.18-23). However, much of the social life continued in Israel because the King of Assyria colonised the land with peoples from Babylonia. These were the beginnings of the Samaritans about whom we hear in Jesus' day.

So radical was this reformation that Bethel, an ancient northern shrine was destroyed. It had possibly been used by Abram, (Gen.12.7-8); and by Jacob (Gen.31.13  35.7). Jeroboam converted these 'high places' to Baal worship. It was there that a man of God came from Judah and denounced the northern king's idolatry. It was there also that the man of God was buried along with the old prophet who had led him into disobedience. The story is recalled in 2 Kings 23.15-18 when Josiah fulfilled the prophecy about the altar at Bethel one hundred years later. He gave orders that the men of God should be untouched while the rest of the high place was desecrated. No place or object or ritual remains sacred if it is abused by false worship.

While the purifying of the land proceeded, the Temple which Solomon had built was undergoing repairs. During the renovations the priest found an old document which later was identified as the Book of Deuteronomy. During the periods of unrest and foreign worship the ancient books of the Law had been forgotten or perhaps hidden. This was the book which required the worship of Israel to be central at Jerusalem. It began to take serious effect in the days of King David and later when the Temple was being built in the reign of Solomon.

Josiah was alarmed at the contents of the newly found scroll. He realised how far short Israel were in measuring up to the Law given by Moses. He told his courtiers to discover God's will in the matter. The request seems to have been communicated to the priests. They in turn consulted with the prophetess Huldah who was the wife of a court official (2 Kings 22.14). Her answer was not flattering to the people of Judah. She made it clear that God would judge his people because of their disobedience to his law and their outrageous idolatry. She in fact recalled what had been written in the books of the Law, and was to be reiterated again and again more specifically by Jeremiah throughout his time of prophesying.

Why was Jeremiah not consulted as the prophet of God? He was still very young. He had no court connections and his family background may have disqualified him from any favour from the Temple priesthood. But the words of Huldah, along with the prophecies of Jeremiah in the years to come were confirmation; "out the mouth of two witnesses"! God's messages are not confined to the expected channels.

During the reign of Solomon, Zadok's family displaced that of Abiathar as High Priests. The young Samuel had prophesied that Eli's family would not be allowed to continue in that high office. A feud lingered between the two families and became more apparent at the time of Josiah. The family of Abiathar, like many other provincial priestly families, must have lost their work during the reform period. It was to have serious consequences for Jeremiah.

Josiah was deeply concerned about the contents of the book which had been found. He realised how greatly Israel had sinned and broken the covenant with their God. The covenant relationship between the Lord and his people was to become the theme of Jeremiah's great prophetic speeches. How much the prophet and the king met and discussed the reform we may never know, but there are remarkable similarities in their outlook, obviously inspired by the same spirit.

Josiah's work of reform was not only negative in the pulling down of idols and altars. There is a very strong connection between the moral values of a nation and its religious attitudes. Israel's law which had been so badly neglected was very much about their relationship to God and to each other. Justice and kindness had been neglected and in their place cruelty and murder had developed.

Real reform meant that the people must learn how to behave in the manner that God wanted them to, so Josiah ordered the people to assemble and hear the Word of God read to them. To this was added the re-establishment of the covenant between God and his people. From this must come a desire to remember how God had redeemed his people. Thus, after many long years, they at last kept the Passover. These were all signal events of true reform. Knowing what God wants from us by studying the Scriptures and recalling the way he reconciles his people to himself are vital elements in practising the true faith. They provide a standard and pattern for God's people in every Age by which they must measure their own need of repentance. To these principles Paul drew attention when he wrote "Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup." (1 Cor.11.28 RSV).

Whatever Jeremiah's part in the reform during the life of Josiah, he was to continue the work among the people of Judah long after the king was killed in the fateful battle against the Egyptians (2 Kings 23.29). Josiah's action against Neco is puzzling. God had made a promise by covenant with David and reinforced it in the triumph of Hezekiah. Many in Judah believed that however evil Jerusalem became, nothing could overthrow God's city, its Temple and its king. If Josiah became so arrogant that he thought he could tempt God, (Matt.4.7) he discovered his mistake too late.

In his "Temple" sermon, (chapter 7) Jeremiah told God's people the consequences of relying upon a material shrine like the Temple to save them, instead of genuine faith in God. Their worship was false, their religious ritual and sacrifice based on hypocrisy. True salvation produces right behaviour. Jeremiah was grief stricken at the hollow attitudes of Israel's piety. Religious observances and sacrifices have no value unless those who practice such things, really come to know their God. Evidence of this relationship is not demonstrated in academic knowledge but in the way people live Thus Jeremiah was able to write of Josiah "He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? says the LORD" (Jer.22.16 RSV). The laws by which followers of Jesus today are judged are based on active justice and compassion; they spring from knowing God personally. When the father of lies and hypocrisy has no influence in the Age to come, those same principles will be the foundation of the judgment of all people. Such law is written not on stone tablets but on the pages of the human heart.

DN