And the king commanded Hilkijah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying,
Someone has found the book of the law, and Josiah has just heard it read aloud. He tore his clothes at what he heard. Now he acts: he names five men and sends them out on his behalf. Two questions follow. Why would a king need a delegation to learn God's mind? And what does it say about him that his first move was to ask for more of the Word that had just cut him?
Before Josiah gave any order, the book had already done its work inside him. One commentator draws the line between two very different uses of Scripture:
It is a very serious thing for anyone — man, woman or child — to stand in the searching light of God's Word. That Word judges everything. It makes no terms with the flesh or the world. It cuts up by the root everything within us and around us that is not according to God... It is one thing to judge our surroundings by the Word, and it is quite another thing to judge ourselves. Now Josiah began with himself. Before he ever called on others to listen to the weighty words of the law, he tore his own clothes, in true self-judgment beneath their searching power.
The order in this verse comes from a man who did not soften what he had heard:
How profoundly serious was the effect on the godly king Josiah when he heard the Word of God! In a spirit of deep self-judgment he tore his clothes. Then he commanded five men, including Hilkiah and Shaphan, to go and inquire of the Lord for him and for the small number left in Israel and Judah. For he recognised that Israel was under the great wrath of God because their fathers had not kept the Word of the Lord. He did not try to explain it away. He faced the truth of Scripture head on. He wanted to know just how God was now going to deal with his nation.
The five men carry the question; they do not answer it. One commentator asks who can:
And now who will interpret this Word for us? This Word says we have brought His displeasure on ourselves. So how are we to "inquire of Jehovah" about what we should do? The prophet alone, the representative of the Spirit of Christ, can interpret it for us. Josiah does not turn to Shaphan the secretary for this, or even to Hilkiah the high priest. He seeks to be brought into direct relationship with the Word.
Hilkiah the high priest heads the list of messengers. One commentator stops at that:
But the course Josiah adopted arrests our attention. He sent a delegation of five leading men in his realm to consult Huldah the prophetess as to what Jehovah wanted done. The leader of the delegation was Hilkiah the High Priest! The religious head of the nation sent by the king to a woman for counsel! Why was this?... At a much later date it was said, "The priest's lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the law at his mouth, for he is the messenger of Jehovah of Hosts" (Mal. 2:7). Here the high privileges and the spiritual distinction of the priesthood stand out clearly. Their special nearness to God should fit them to be His mouthpiece to the people.
Two of the five appear again later. Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, stood by God's prophet when that was dangerous:
Son of Shaphan the scribe, and one of those sent by Josiah to Huldah the prophetess to inquire of the Lord about the book of the law that had been found. He also served under Jehoiakim and shielded Jeremiah from death when he prophesied against the nation.
Shaphan handled the book himself. That was no guarantee inside his own house:
Shaphan did wisely, for a Bible unread is useless to anybody. This man's son became a leader in idolatry (Ezek. 8:11). Over him the Word of God evidently had no power.
- Read — a Bible nobody opens helps nobody. Everything here starts with Shaphan reading the book to the king.
- Received — Josiah did not argue with the hard words. He took the truth as it stood and asked God what came next.
- Repented first — he tore his own clothes before he gave any order. He judged himself before he judged the nation.
- Referred upward — he passed over his own secretary and high priest. He wanted God's Word direct, not official comfort.
- Results vary — the same scroll passed through Shaphan's hands and Ahikam's. One family gave Jeremiah a protector; it also gave the nation a leader in idolatry. The Word's power is not inherited.
Go, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book which is found; for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written [there] for us.
The repair of the temple brought the long-neglected book of the law back to light. When Josiah heard its words he tore his clothes and sent five men to inquire of the LORD. His order raises three questions. What was this book? Why did the king count the sins of long-dead generations as his own? And what good is repentance after God has already announced judgment?
Josiah speaks of "this book" as something his fathers should have obeyed long ago. One writer answers the idea that this was a newly written law:
Josiah heard the words of the book of the law, and his heart was tender; but he had no idea of a new book or a new law. What they found was the book of the law. During Manasseh's long reign it lay completely neglected, but he speaks of it as nothing new. "Great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book."
The book had sat in the temple, ignored. Another writer traces its discovery back to Josiah's care for God's house, and describes how the recovered Word struck that generation:
If Josiah had not had the restoration of the temple at heart, the book of the law, which was kept there, would not have come to light again. This is the special character of Josiah's revival... under Josiah we find what amounts to a totally new revelation of the written Word.
The king could have softened what he heard. The disobedience named in the book was his fathers', not his own. He did nothing of the kind:
In deep self-judgment he tore his clothes. Then he commanded five men, including Hilkiah and Shaphan, to go and inquire of the Lord for him and for the small number left in Israel and Judah. For he recognized that Israel was under the great wrath of God because their fathers had not kept the Word of the Lord. He did not try to explain it away. He faced the truth that Scripture declared, and he wanted to know how God would now deal with his nation.
His own family shows the other way to take such words:
No wonder Josiah tore his clothes when he read what lay in store for Israel if they abandoned their God and turned to idols. Yet how great the contrast between Josiah's attitude and that of his son Jehoiakim. When Jehoiakim heard the words written in Jeremiah's scroll, he cut it with his penknife and threw it into the fire.
He had the book, yet he still sent men to inquire. It had shown him the verdict, not what to do next:
And now who will interpret this Word for us? How are we to "inquire of the LORD" about what we should do? This Word shows that we have brought His displeasure on ourselves. Only the prophet, the representative of the Spirit of Christ, can interpret it for us. Josiah does not turn to Shaphan the scribe for this, or even to Hilkiah the high priest. He seeks direct contact with the Word itself... In Josiah's time, in these days of revival but of deep weakness, we find a prophetess in Jerusalem. The Spirit of Christ speaks through her to confirm all the words of the book the king had read.
The errand covers all Judah, not Josiah alone. He had every reason to treat the case as closed; the book had already passed sentence:
Josiah might have thought the case hopeless. Nothing, he might have reasoned, could hold back the flood of wrath and judgment about to roll over Jerusalem and the land of Israel. Any move of his must prove useless. The divine purpose was settled, the decree had gone out, and he had only to stand by and let things run their course. But Josiah did not reason like that... He did not give himself up to a destructive fatalism. With a broken spirit and an earnest heart he threw himself on God, confessing his own sins and the sins of his people. Then, sure of his own deliverance, he set himself to seek the deliverance of others too.
Josiah grieved over disobedience that began long before his birth. One writer turns that on the reader:
Josiah felt Israel's grievous disobedience over nine centuries so deeply. How should we feel as we look back over our own history in the nineteen centuries since Pentecost? What a record of departure from the Word of God! Are our hearts tender? Do we know anything of holy trembling at the Word of God?
- Found — Josiah cared for God's house, and that zeal brought the neglected Word back to light.
- Faced — He did not rationalize the warning away, but took the declared wrath as true and about himself.
- Asked — He knew the verdict, yet still sent men to inquire. He wanted God's own word, not a comforting opinion.
- Widened — His plea covered the people as well as himself; assured of his own deliverance, he went on to seek theirs.
- Contrasted — His son heard such words and burned them. A tender heart or a penknife: every reader picks one.
And Hilkijah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter [of the town]; and they spoke with her.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And she said to them, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel Tell the man that sent you to me,
Josiah has just heard the book of the law read aloud, torn his clothes, and sent his officials to ask God what it means for him and his people. Verse 15 opens the answer they brought back. Two things stand out: who delivers it, and how God names the king who sent for it.
Josiah wanted more than a report from his priest or his secretary. He wanted the word itself. But the only person who could give it showed how far things had fallen.
And now, who will interpret this Word for us? This Word shows that we have brought God's displeasure on ourselves. How then are we to "inquire of the LORD" about what we should do? Only the prophet can interpret it for us, for he represents the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1:11). Josiah does not turn to Shaphan the scribe for this, or even to Hilkiah the high priest. He seeks direct contact with the Word. There were many prophets in the days of wicked Manasseh. In Josiah's time, days of revival but of deep weakness, we find a prophetess at Jerusalem. Prophets were not lacking in Judah, but work handed to a woman marks decline, just as with Deborah in the book of Judges. Like Deborah, Huldah does not seek a public ministry, as the false prophetesses of our day do. She uses her gift in the place appointed to her.
For a king, going to a woman for counsel looked humbling. Josiah's broken heart made the channel irrelevant.
Things were low. But the grace of God was unfailing and abundant. Josiah was so broken down that he was ready to take God's mind from whatever channel brought it to him. This was morally lovely. To nature's eye, it might seem very humiliating for a king of Judah to turn to a woman for counsel. But that woman held the mind of God, and for a humble and contrite spirit like Josiah's that was quite enough.
Huldah speaks in God's name, not her own. She does not soften the book or add to it.
Huldah was a faithful woman. She told Josiah's servants the plain, uncompromising truth from God. She confirmed what Josiah had read in scripture: a dreadful judgment would fall on Jerusalem. It expressed the fierce anger of the Lord against their wickedness.
Josiah had already heard these words read. Hearing them a second time, addressed to him by name, landed differently.
All this only repeated and confirmed what the king of Judah had already heard with an open and attentive ear. But now it came with fresh force, emphasis, and interest, as a direct personal message to himself. That earnest sentence gave it added weight: "Tell the man who sent you to me."
The reply then comes in two parts. Each part names the same man differently.
The message comes in two parts. The first part opens with 'tell the man'. It says the judgment will come and can no longer be turned aside. The second part speaks to 'the king of Judah'. It reassures Josiah that God had accepted his humbling of himself and would not bring the judgment in Josiah's day.
Jeremiah was already prophesying in Judah at this time. God passed him over here, and the writers do not pretend to explain it.
But although the above is true, we must never lose sight of the sovereignty of God. He works as He pleases, and gives no account of His matters. This is even more so when everything is in confusion among His people. Why the LORD chose to speak through Huldah to the king and to the high priest is known to Himself alone. Jeremiah was already in His service, for he began his prophetic ministry in the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign (Jer. 1:2), and the book of the law was not found until five years later. Yet the LORD spoke through Huldah on this occasion, and not through Jeremiah!
The judgment stood. Josiah could have decided there was nothing left to do.
Josiah might have thought the case hopeless. He might have thought that nothing could turn back the mighty tide of wrath and judgment about to roll over Jerusalem and the land of Israel. He might have thought that any move of his was useless — that God's purpose was settled, the decree gone out, and that he had only to stand by and let things take their course. But Josiah did not reason this way. He bowed before the divine testimony. He humbled himself, tore his clothes, and wept. God took notice of this.
- Sent — Josiah would not settle for a second-hand report. He sought direct contact with God's word.
- Channel — a woman in the prophet's place showed how low things had sunk. A broken king still took the word, whatever channel God used.
- Sovereign — Jeremiah was already prophesying. God chose Huldah instead, and gives no account of why.
- Confirmed — the message added nothing to the book. It drove home what Josiah had already heard.
- Answered — the judgment still stood, yet God noticed Josiah's tears. "Tell the man" became a personal word for "the king of Judah."
Thus saith Jehovah Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof, all the words of the book that the king of Judah hath read.
Josiah has just heard the newly found book of the law read aloud, and he sends men to ask God what it means. Huldah's reply softens nothing: disaster is coming on Jerusalem, and that raises the hard question — why could a real revival not cancel it?
Josiah asked God about the words he had already read. The answer matched the book in front of him.
Huldah was a faithful woman who told Josiah's servants the plain, uncompromising truth from God: the Lord would bring disaster on this place and on its people, "because they have forsaken Me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands. Therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched" (vv.16-17). Huldah confirmed what Josiah had read in scripture, that a dreadful judgment would fall on Jerusalem.
The sentence was not sudden. It answered a guilt that had been building for centuries.
Ruin was waiting for the nation. Its cup of sin had been filling up for centuries. Manasseh's defiance of Jehovah's Word and his extreme evil made the cup overflow… They had provoked their God to anger "since the day their fathers came out of Egypt." So the evil was persistent and beyond remedy… Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 are two of the most terrible chapters in the Word of God. In them God set out, before Israel entered the land, what must follow if they rebelled against Him. It was probably those very chapters that so alarmed Josiah and made him tear his clothes and weep before God.
The messenger God chose says something about the state of the nation.
In Josiah's time, in these days of revival but of deep weakness, we find a prophetess at Jerusalem. Prophets were not lacking in Judah (2 Kings 23:2). But work given to a woman marks decline, just as with Deborah in the book of Judges. Like Deborah, Huldah is a servant of Jehovah. She does not try to exercise a public ministry like the false prophetesses of our day. She uses her gift in the place appointed to her… But the Spirit of Christ speaks through this woman, to confirm "all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read" (v. 16).
Josiah never objected to who brought him the message.
To human eyes it might seem very humbling for a king of Judah to turn to a woman for counsel. But that woman was the keeper of the mind of God, and this was quite enough for a humble and contrite spirit like Josiah's… It did not matter how the voice of God reached his ear. He was ready to hear and obey.
That leaves one question: could the king's own godliness have saved the nation?
Did the piety of Josiah turn away the wrath of God from Judah? No. Josiah "turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might" (2 Kings 23:25). Yet verse 26 adds: "Still the LORD did not turn from the burning of His great wrath, by which His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him."
The threat stood, yet God had a separate word for the king himself.
Because his heart was tender, he had humbled himself before the Lord when he heard the Word of God. He had torn his clothes in self-judgment and had wept before the Lord. So the Lord took full account of his repentance (vv.18-20). For this reason the Lord assured Josiah that he himself would die before Judah's solemn calamity came. This may remind us of Isaiah 57:1: "The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity."
The next generation heard a written warning too.
Josiah had good reason to tear his clothes when he read what was in store for Israel if they forsook their God and turned to idols. Yet what a contrast between Josiah and his son Jehoiakim! When Jehoiakim heard the words written in Jeremiah's scroll, he cut it with his penknife and threw it into the fire (Jer. 36:23).
- Book read — The law was read aloud, and it told Judah what was coming. Josiah's first move was to ask God about those words.
- Book confirmed — Huldah added nothing new. Everything written in the book would happen, because the nation had left the Lord for other gods.
- Book vindicated — Sin piled up for centuries and overflowed under Manasseh. Nothing would quench that wrath, not even Josiah's wholehearted reform.
- Book received — God answered the one man whose heart was tender. Josiah humbled himself, tore his clothes and wept, and God promised he would die before the disaster came.
- Book refused — Josiah's son heard the same kind of warning and cut the scroll to pieces. The same words either break a heart or harden it.
Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my fury is kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.
Josiah sent his men to ask God about the book found in the temple. The answer came back through Huldah the prophetess. This verse gives the reason for the sentence: Judah had left God for other gods. It also gives its measure — an anger nothing will put out.
Josiah had already heard the book read aloud. Huldah gave him no new information. She confirmed that the judgment he had read about would really fall.
Huldah was a faithful woman who told Josiah's servants the plain, uncompromising truth from God... She only confirmed what Josiah had read in Scripture: a dreadful judgment would fall on Jerusalem. It would express the fierce anger of the Lord against their wickedness.
Josiah had a scribe and a high priest close at hand. He took his question somewhere else:
Josiah does not turn to Shaphan the scribe for this, or even to Hilkijah the high priest. He seeks to be put into direct relationship with the Word... But the Spirit of Christ speaks through this woman. She confirms "all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read" (v. 16), and at the same time reassures Josiah about his own future.
The charge is specific: they forsook God and made offerings to other gods. The sentence matches the charge. Josiah's own goodness could not cancel it.
Yet God had told Josiah that His wrath was aroused against Judah because of all their iniquity, and that wrath would not be quenched... Josiah's faithfulness had only delayed the judgment during his own reign. Manasseh turned to God in his later years, but the evil he had done was enormous, and it had defiled Judah deeply. God's grace may triumph over man's sin and save him from eternal judgment. Yet God's government still calls for the judgment of whatever evil has been done... Jerusalem, God's centre, and God's house there would be cast off, even though God had established His name in it.
Josiah's reform changed the whole country, yet the wrath stood. One writer asks why God was not satisfied.
Royal power had brought about a great reformation. But it left the hearts of most of the people untouched... So why could God not rest in the improved outward state of the kingdom of Judah in Josiah's day? He looked beneath the surface. He looked for reality, for tenderness of conscience, for a heart subject to His word. He did not find them... God will never be satisfied with anything less than thoroughness.
Huldah's reply comes in two halves. The change of address marks the break. The first half is for the man who sent them. The second is for the king of Judah.
The first part starts with "tell the man". It states that the judgement will come and can no longer be turned aside. The second part speaks to "the king of Judah". It reassures Josiah that God had accepted his humiliation and would not bring the judgement in Josiah's day.
The comfort for the king was personal. It came in a form that looks at first like loss:
So the Lord assured Josiah that death would take him away before Judah's solemn calamity came. This may remind us of Isaiah 57:1: "The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity." How often God takes a godly person away before some great trouble that would be most painful for him to watch!
Josiah's revival did not cancel the judgment. One writer draws a warning from that for later ages.
And here is an important lesson for our own times. Reformations and revivals cannot keep back the decreed judgments of God. Many think that great waves of reformation and revival prove the world is getting better, and that only good lies ahead for this age... Reformation-revival movements are evidences, too, that the threatened judgment is not far away. As the end approaches God warns us and His Spirit presses home the truth once more to awaken the consciences of men.
- Cause. The wrath has a stated reason. Judah left God and gave His worship to idols they had made themselves.
- Confirmation. Huldah added nothing to the book. She confirmed that its words now rested on this place and these people.
- Unquenchable. Grace may save a person from eternal judgment. God's government still deals with the evil done. The wrath was delayed, not cancelled.
- Surface. The reform was royal and outward. God looked beneath it for a tender conscience and a heart subject to His word. He did not find it.
- Shelter. Wrath that nothing could quench still made room for one tender heart. God took Josiah away in peace before the trouble he would have had to watch.
But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus shall ye say to him Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel touching the words which thou hast heard
Huldah's reply to Josiah's messengers came in two halves. The first announced judgment on the nation; this verse turns to the king who had sent to ask.
Josiah's response to the book had two sides. So did the answer that came back.
The reading of "the book" prompted a deep twofold reaction. Josiah tore his clothes and he inquired of the Lord. The word of God brings about repentance and dependence. The message comes in two parts. The first part begins with "tell the man" and states that the judgement will come and nothing can turn it aside any more. The second part speaks to "the king of Judah" and reassures Josiah that God had accepted his humiliation and would not bring the judgement in Josiah's day.
Hearing the words was one thing. Knowing what to do about them was another.
And now who will interpret this Word for us? How are we to "inquire of the LORD" about what we should do? This Word shows that we have brought His displeasure on ourselves. Only the prophet, the representative of the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1:11), can interpret it for us. Josiah does not turn to Shaphan the scribe for this, or even to Hilkiah the high priest; he seeks direct contact with the Word itself... But the Spirit of Christ speaks through Huldah, this servant of Jehovah, to confirm "all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read" (v. 16), and at the same time to reassure Josiah about his own future.
One man's devotion mattered to God, and it mattered for a whole nation.
God greatly valued the devotion of individual souls, above all in days of abounding evil. Should not both writer and reader aim to have a heart always tender and humble before God? Josiah's personal devotion was of immeasurable value to the nation. God had promised him that the judgements would not fall while he lived.
One thing in Josiah drew this answer from God.
God had regard to the king's deep humiliation... To humble himself was, in fact, the only thing needed. This marked Josiah, and it always marks the faithful remnant in the middle of evil... Today you can recognize the hearts of the faithful by the humiliation they feel at the state of things. Josiah's heart was very sensitive to this; he tore his clothes and wept.
The sentence on the nation still stood. That news did not stop Josiah; it moved him to act.
Josiah learned that nothing could revoke the sentence pronounced against Jerusalem and Judah. God did promise him personal exemption. It was then that he humbled himself still further before the Lord, and set about promoting a reformation with no parallel until then in the nation's history. The judgments could not be averted, and they were not. But God fully owned Josiah's repentance. The reformation God used him to bring about was a bright testimony for God on the very eve of the nation's overthrow. Oh for something of his spirit!
A man told that ruin is fixed could decide there is nothing left to do. Josiah reasoned the other way.
It teaches us the immense value, in God's estimation, of deep personal exercise of soul and a broken heart. Josiah might have thought the case hopeless. He might have said that nothing could turn back the great tide of wrath and judgement about to roll over the city of Jerusalem and the land of Israel. He might have said that any movement of his must prove useless, that God's purpose was settled, the decree had gone out, and that he had only to stand by and let things take their course. But Josiah did not reason like that. He bowed before God's testimony. He humbled himself, tore his clothes, and wept. God took notice of this. Josiah's tears of repentance were precious to Jehovah. The dreadful judgement had to run its course, yet the penitent escaped. And not only did he escape himself, he became the honoured instrument in the Lord's hand of delivering others too.
- Sent. Josiah did not argue with the book he heard. He sent to inquire of the Lord, past the scribe and the high priest, to get God's own mind.
- Split. The answer came in two parts. "The man" hears that judgment is fixed; "the king of Judah" hears that God has heard him.
- Tender. God valued the king's broken, humbled heart; writers call that the one quality to cultivate in days of abounding evil.
- Spared, not cancelled. Being heard did not revoke the sentence on the nation; it gave one man exemption and postponement.
- Stirred. Josiah knew the ruin was fixed. Still he humbled himself further and led the greatest reform in the nation's history, and God used him to deliver others.
Because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before Jehovah, when thou heardest what I spoke against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and didst rend thy garments and weep before me, I also have heard [thee], saith Jehovah.
Josiah tears his clothes and weeps. He is not mourning a personal loss. He has just heard God's words read aloud against Jerusalem — words warning that the city and its people faced ruin. God's answer names one reason He listened: the king's heart was tender.
A tender heart is not how anyone starts out. Commentators trace Josiah's to God's own work in him.
The heart of man is naturally hard in relation to God. Note the Apostle's words in Eph. 4:18: "They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart." In His parable of the Sower, the Lord Jesus spoke of the good seed of the Word falling on the hard path (Matt. 13:4). What ground could be harder, or less likely to bear fruit? Josiah's heart was different: it could be moved. That was surely a gracious work of the Holy Spirit of God. Jer. 23:29 compares God's Word to a hammer: "Is not My word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" The Philippian jailer needed that hammer when Paul and Silas first dealt with him. King Josiah did not. His heart was already tender.
The verse turns on what Josiah did when the words were read to him. He did not judge them. They judged him.
Josiah had no doubt at all that the words Shaphan read aloud to him were genuine and true. We do not read of him asking, "How am I to know that this is the Word of God?" No. He trembled at it. He bowed before it. It struck him down. He tore his clothes. He did not dare to sit in judgement on the Word of God. As was right and proper, he let the Word judge him.
Commentators say this is why people push Scripture away. It has that power over them.
If man is to judge Scripture, then Scripture is not the Word of God at all. But if Scripture really is the Word of God, then it must judge man. And so it is, and so it does… It holds up the only true mirror, and in it a man sees himself exactly as he is. This is why man does not like Scripture. He cannot bear it. He tries to set it aside… Men do not trouble themselves so much to discover and point out flaws and discrepancies in Homer or Herodotus, Aristotle or Shakespeare.
Josiah is remembered for clearing away the wrongs of his day. But the order matters: he judged himself first.
He did not rush out first to attack the errors of other people. No. He first tore his own clothes, as a man fully humbled and self-judged. Then he called his people together, so that they too might hear the same powerful testimony and take the same ground of self-judgment and brokenness. This, he felt, was the only true road to blessing.
Josiah had every excuse to do nothing. The judgement was already settled and the sentence had gone out. What he did instead shows what God makes of a broken heart.
Josiah might have thought the case hopeless. Nothing could stop the great tide of wrath and judgement about to roll over Jerusalem and the land of Israel. Any move of his must prove useless. God's purpose was settled, the sentence had gone out, and he had only to stand by and let things take their course. But Josiah did not reason like this… God took notice. Josiah's tears of repentance were precious to the LORD. The dreadful judgement still had to run its course, yet the man who repented escaped. And he did not only escape himself. He became the honoured instrument in the Lord's hand for delivering others too.
One king's godliness held back judgement from a whole nation. That put a weight on his life which Josiah later failed to guard.
God valued the godliness of individual people, above all in days when evil was everywhere. Should not both writer and reader aim to keep a heart that is always tender and humble before God? Josiah's own godliness was worth more to the nation than anyone could measure. God had promised him that the judgements would not fall while he lived… Oh, why did he not walk with care, knowing that so much depended on his life?
- Tender — no one is born with a soft heart toward God. Commentators read Josiah's as the Spirit's work. He needed no hammer to break him.
- Trembling — he never asked whether the book was genuine. He let it judge him. Men resist Scripture because it does exactly that, as no other book does.
- Torn — he tore his own clothes before he attacked anyone else's errors. Self-judgment came first. Then he called others to the same ground.
- Heard — the sentence on Jerusalem still stood, yet God answered the tears. Repentance is never wasted, even when it cannot change the outcome.
- Held back — one man's broken heart delayed a nation's ruin. So writers press the question home: is our heart tender?
Therefore, behold, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.
Huldah's reply to Josiah's messengers has two halves: doom on Jerusalem, and a personal word for the king who wept over the book. This verse is the personal half. It raises two hard questions: why did one man's grief change anything, and how could a king promised burial "in peace" die in battle?
The promise rests on what came just before: Josiah's tender heart and his humbling of himself. One writer notes how easily Josiah could have judged mourning pointless once the sentence had gone out:
Josiah might have thought the case hopeless. He could have said that nothing would turn back the great tide of wrath and judgment about to roll over the city of Jerusalem and the land of Israel. He could have said that any move of his must prove useless, that God's purpose was settled and the decree gone out, and that he had only to stand by and let things take their course. But Josiah did not reason this way. No; he bowed before God's testimony. He humbled himself, tore his clothes, and wept. God took knowledge of this. Josiah's penitential tears were precious to the Lord, and though the dreadful judgment had to take its course, the penitent escaped.
The verse spares Josiah's eyes, not the city. His repentance bought time. What happened when that time ran out is plain:
The piety of Josiah had delayed the divine judgment, but the sin of his sons brought it on swiftly.
Neglect does not weaken what Scripture says:
People may neglect Scripture, but no one can break it. The Lord answers Josiah that he himself, because his heart was tender and he trembled at the word, will be gathered to his fathers in peace and will not see the evil. But the curses read out of the book will certainly take hold.
"Your eyes shall not see all the disaster" turns an early death into a mercy. Commentators see a pattern here:
Because the Lord had taken full account of his repentance, He assured Josiah that death would take him away before Judah's solemn calamity... How often God takes away a godly person before some great trouble that would be most painful for him to witness!
Turned around, the removal of the godly warns those left behind:
If the godly are taken away it is a solemn sign that judgment is about to fall... So it has always been in the history of the world. As one has said: "When Lots are taken out of Sodom, it signals a shower of wrath. Methuselah was taken away a year before the flood. When Noahs are taken into their arks, we may conclude that a deluge is coming. God gathers His harvest before the world's storm. He calls labourers home before the dark night comes on."
Josiah fell in battle against Pharaoh Neco. Commentators do not smooth this over. They treat it as a lesson in how God governs His servants in detail:
As to further detail of God's government, look at the case of Josiah. He fell by the hand of Pharaoh Neco, although the Lord had said, "You shall be gathered to your grave in peace." But God took him away from the evil to come. The circumstances were painful, for it seems he should have listened to Pharaoh. Josiah was chastened personally, but he did not see, as Daniel did, all that came upon Jerusalem: what a sparing from sorrow that was!
The same hand is seen in both the kindness and the wound:
Mercy took him away from the evil to come; but there was judgment in the way it happened, while the judgment that fell on the guilty city was unmixed.
The messengers carried the word back to the king. What Josiah did with it cuts both ways. Knowing the end was fixed did not slow him down:
Josiah, warned by the Lord, knew perfectly well that his work would not stop the course of judgment. He also knew that he would be gathered to his fathers before the evil came, and that his eyes would not see it. But he had only one thought... he was pressed to honour Him in the ruin of Israel, in the very place where He had been so dishonoured.
Yet he threw away the life that so much depended on:
He had God's promise that the judgments would not be poured out while he lived. He was twenty-six when Huldah spoke... Oh, why did he not walk carefully, knowing that so much depended on his life? Why did he, at thirty-nine, plunge into a quarrel that did not concern him, and risk — yes, sacrifice — his precious life?
- Tenderness counted. God had already settled the sentence on Judah. Yet He answered the one man who trembled at His word, and took knowledge of his tears.
- Delay, not escape. Josiah's repentance postponed the judgment but did not cancel it. His sons brought it down swiftly.
- Shelter in death. Not seeing the disaster was the gift; God often takes a godly person home before a trouble too painful to watch.
- Peace with a wound. He died fighting a war he should have avoided. God chastened him in the way he died, yet still spared him the sight of Jerusalem's ruin.
- No fatalism. Certainty about coming judgment left Josiah working harder, not less. The same promise should have made him walk with more care.