And the king commanded all the people saying, Hold the passover to Jehovah your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.
Josiah had just torn down the idols, shrines and altars that earlier kings built across Judah. The people had heard the book of the law read aloud. Now comes the command that crowns the whole work: the people are to keep the Passover — and to keep it by the book.
Clearing away what was false and going back to Scripture open the way for the feast.
We have just spoken of the two great principles that mark revival in the end times: a break with the idol worship of the world or of its religious traditions, and a return to the Holy Scriptures. The celebration of the Passover follows these two things, and comes as a result of them.
Pulling down idols was only half of what Josiah did. The command to keep the feast shows the other half.
But Josiah's energy was not limited to getting rid of evil. Verses 21-23 show the positive side of his faith. He commanded all the people to keep the Passover to the Lord, following God's directions in the Book of the Covenant. The Passover looked back to Israel's rescue from Egypt. It also looked ahead to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on Calvary.
One short phrase in the command governs the whole celebration. Josiah carried it into every detail.
The account in our book is very short, but it is marked by an important phrase: "as it is written in this Book of the Covenant" (v. 21)... Under Josiah the written Word, wonderfully preserved and found again in the temple, takes on far greater importance. Nothing belonging to this memorial was to be done without the Word... Everything was done "according to the commandment of king Josiah". That is to say, the man God used in this revival had the good sense to tell the people to do nothing, and to order nothing, except what agreed with Scripture.
The king's own thoughts, and the opinions of those around him, were kept out of it.
God's word had taken hold of the king's heart and mind. This made him set aside everything that did not agree with it. He let nothing of his own thoughts, or of the thoughts of others, push into what God had commanded for His worship. And he did this in days of great weakness, just before the final stroke of God's judgment was about to fall.
The feast Josiah revived carried two meanings at once.
Because it was given to a redeemed and circumcised people, the memorial became the symbol of the unity of the people of God. So the Passover was both the remembrance of redemption and the proclamation of the unity of the people.
That second meaning grows as the nation falls apart.
So the further we go into the history of the ruin of the people of God, the more the Passover matters to the faithful, and the more the state of soul that fits it matters too. And, strikingly, the sign of the unity of the people becomes more important as the ruin scatters the people more and more.
Josiah could have said the nation was too far gone to bother.
What did Josiah do? He had the book of the law read. He did not lower the standard because of the state of things. He acted on the Word of God. That was his standard, and he kept the Passover in the first month. The result: there had not been such a Passover since the days of Samuel.
He knew the feast would not cancel the coming judgment. He held it anyway.
The Lord had warned Josiah. He knew very well that this would not stop the course of judgment. He also knew that he would die before the disaster came... but he had only one thought. The dishonour done to the Lord and to His worship humbled him deeply. He was pressed to honour Him in the middle of Israel's ruin, in the very place where He had been so dishonoured.
What was true of the Passover now belongs to the Lord's Supper.
On the night Jesus was betrayed, the Lord's Supper took the place of the Jewish Passover as a memorial. It is served, and the Lord's Table is set, for His redeemed people and for them alone. His death is proclaimed there until He returns. At the same time this table is a rallying centre for the people of God. It proclaims the unity of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:17), even at a time when everything appears to contradict this truth...
- Cleansing first. Breaking with false worship and returning to Scripture come first. The feast follows from them.
- Then the book. "As it is written" governed every detail — nothing about the memorial was to be done without the Word.
- Then remembrance. The Passover held two things at once: the memory of redemption, and the declaration that God's people are one.
- Then courage. Josiah knew judgment was still coming. He kept the feast anyway, because God had been dishonoured in that very place.
- Then us. The Lord's Supper stands in the same line. It is a memorial of His death and a rallying point for His people, even when everything around denies it.
For there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
Josiah's Passover is the high point of his reign. The temple had been cleansed. A long-lost book of the law came to light there. The king then told the nation to keep the feast that remembered their rescue from Egypt. The verse makes a striking claim: nothing like this Passover had happened since the days of the judges, the tribal leaders who ruled long before Israel had kings. So what made it different, and what does it say about recovery in a ruined day?
The account in Kings is short. But one phrase carries its weight: the people kept it "as it is written in this Book of the Covenant." Every detail went back to a written instruction.
Under Josiah the written Word takes on far greater importance. It had been wonderfully preserved, and it was found again in the temple. Nothing connected with this memorial should be done without the Word. They were to prepare it "according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon." They were to present the sacrifice "according to the word of the LORD by Moses." They were to roast it with fire "according to the rule." Each man took his place in singing and praise "according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer." And all of it was done "according to the command of King Josiah." That is, the man God used in this revival had the wisdom to order nothing except what agreed with Scripture.
An earlier king, Hezekiah, had also kept a Passover. The comparison between the two is exact, not vague.
One thing made this Passover different from all that had gone before. Both king and people kept the Word of the LORD with care. The failures and shortcomings of earlier days did not shape things now. Hezekiah kept the Passover in the second month; Josiah kept it in the first. In Hezekiah's day the purification of the people and the sanctuary was only partial. Josiah made sure it was thorough and complete. The LORD in His grace pardoned the irregularities in Hezekiah's reign. But since then the book of the law had come into fresh prominence, and Josiah wanted every one of its requirements kept with care.
This feast did not come at the peak of national strength. It came when the nation was at its lowest, and that is where its encouragement lies.
Such a Passover had not been kept since the days of Joshua. Now this proves that if we are only faithful to God, He will show His power for us. Josiah's case clearly illustrates the words "Those who honour Me I will honour." Think how low the nation had sunk. Then consider that they kept a Passover greater than anything known before, even at the height of the nation's glory. How encouraging for us!
Who the feast was given to shaped what it meant.
It was given to a redeemed and circumcised people, and so this memorial became the symbol of the unity of the people of God. The Passover was two things at once: the remembrance of redemption and the proclamation of the unity of the people.
Rossier carries both truths over to the Lord's Table:
At the Lord's Table His death is proclaimed until He returns. This table is also a rallying centre for the people of God. It proclaims the unity of the body of Christ, even at a time when everything seems to contradict this truth.
Doing things by the book is not the whole point. The warning is for anyone who can be exact and still cold.
When we set out for a meeting, is the main thought in our minds that we are going to meet the Lord? Or are we just attending a religious service? We may be truly scriptural in what we do, as the priests and Pharisees were in our Lord's day. Even so, we can give no pleasure to the heart of God.
The unmatched Passover did not stop the coming judgment. It stands at the very end of the line of kings.
It was like the last flicker of the lamp which God had lit among His people in the house of David. The lamp was soon put out in the darkness of the nation that did not know God. Those who had been His people came under the judgment expressed by the word Lo-ammi (Not-my-people). But this only made room later for the display of His infinite grace towards the one, and His unchangeable faithfulness to the others.
- Written. Nothing in this Passover was done without a written instruction behind it. That is what lifted it above every earlier one.
- Thorough. Hezekiah's feast came a month late, with partial cleansing. Josiah's came on time, with complete cleansing. Recovery went further because the Word had gone deeper.
- Lowest to highest. Israel's greatest Passover came out of the nation's worst decay. That is why it stands as encouragement, not nostalgia.
- Remembrance and unity. The feast held two things at once: redemption remembered and one people declared. Both carry over to the Lord's Table today.
- Heart, not machinery. You can be exact and still give God no pleasure. What decides it is whether we come to meet the Lord.
but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this passover holden to Jehovah in Jerusalem.
Josiah's great Passover came at the end of a long clean-up. He had cleared the idols out of the land, repaired the temple, and turned the nation back to the Scriptures. The verse dates the feast to his eighteenth year. Commentators ask why this one Passover, so late in Judah's story, stands above every other.
The date matters. The feast had to wait until the land and the temple were clean.
Josiah's Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he was twenty-six years old. Cleaning out the land and the temple took a long time. The king was right to feel that the LORD must be worshipped in pure surroundings... In Josiah's day the land was full of detestable things — not only the idols themselves, but also the filthy practices that always go with idolatry. Clearing it all away seems to have taken eight years of hard work... The order Josiah followed teaches us something. First he cleansed the land and the temple. Next he "repaired the house of the LORD his God." Then he felt ready to call the people together to keep the feast.
The feast did not stand alone. It came after two other things, and grew out of them.
Two great principles mark revival in the end times: breaking with the idolatry of the world or of its religious traditions, and returning to the Holy Scriptures. The celebration of the Passover follows these two facts, and comes as a result of them.
Israel had known far richer days. Something other than resources or national strength made this feast stand out.
What a remarkable testimony! Hezekiah's Passover carries us back to the brilliant reign of Solomon, but here we have something brighter still. What gave Josiah's Passover such glory? We believe it was this: the feast was the fruit of holy and reverent obedience to the Word of God at a time when ruin and corruption, error and confusion were everywhere. The dark background of the nation's condition made the working of faith in an obedient and devoted heart stand out.
Josiah measured this feast by one thing only, and it was not what earlier kings had managed.
What made this Passover different from every one before it was that both king and people carefully obeyed the Word of the LORD... The failures and shortcomings of earlier days did not set the pattern now. Hezekiah kept the Passover in the second month; but Josiah kept it in the first. In Hezekiah's day the cleansing of the people and the sanctuary was only partial. Josiah made sure that this cleansing was thorough and complete.
Who the feast was given to shaped what it came to mean.
Because it was given to a redeemed and circumcised people, the memorial became the symbol of the unity of the people of God. So the Passover was at once the remembrance of redemption and the announcement of the unity of the people.
That second meaning does not fade when God's people fall apart. It grows.
So the further we go into the history of the ruin of the people of God, the more the Passover matters to the faithful, along with the state of heart that fits it. Strikingly, the sign of the people's unity grows more important the more the ruin scatters them.
Size was not what made this feast valuable.
In Josiah's day the nation was broken, and Gentile powers had carried large numbers of the people away from the land. Only a remnant was left. Yet the LORD treasured the sight of them gathering at that late moment in the nation's history, putting themselves once more, in their danger and need, under the shelter of the blood of the lamb.
Why a Passover, and not some other feast? Its meaning reaches far past Josiah's day.
Josiah wanted to keep a Passover to the LORD. This was Israel's great foundation feast. Under the shelter of the blood of the lamb, the people were spared the judgement that fell on the Egyptians. God wanted a grateful people to keep it in remembrance for ever... The Passover lamb pictured Christ: "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7). The Lord's Supper differs a little from the Passover. It is not simply a memorial of a great deliverance, but a remembrance of the Person who won that deliverance for us. "Do this in remembrance of me," were our Lord's words (Luke 22:19).
- Cleared — Eight years of tearing down idols and repairing the temple came first. Worship follows the clearing away of what defiles.
- Written — Careful obedience to the Word lifted this feast above every other. Earlier failures set no standard.
- Remembered — The feast held two things at once: redemption by the blood of the lamb, and the oneness of the people who ate it.
- Scattered — As ruin spreads, the sign of unity matters more, not less; a remnant gathering late is precious to God.
- Brightest — The darker the day, the brighter such obedience shines; and the lamb they sheltered under pictured Christ, sacrificed for us.
Moreover the necromancers and the soothsayers, and the teraphim and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah took away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkijah the priest had found in the house of Jehovah.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And before him there had been no king like him that turned to Jehovah with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there his like.
God's own verdict closes the record of Josiah's reforms: no king ever turned to the Lord as he did. So what made this young king unequalled, and why did God still judge Judah?
The praise here is God's own, not man's. One writer draws a principle from that:
The Lord has given His faithful servant a remarkable commendation. He notices everything in His people that comes from Himself and is done for Himself.
We might read the verse as a tribute to Josiah's own goodness. One writer points somewhere else — to the book found in the temple:
Right to the end of his life, Josiah put into practice the principles he had drawn from the Scriptures. There was no king like him, before or after. That was not because of his own merit or his own righteousness. It was because the Word of God, mixed with faith in his heart, had become part of the man himself.
Hezekiah receives a similar "none like him" (2 Kings 18:5), so the two statements must be read as praising different things:
What distinguished Josiah was his carefulness to observe the law of Moses, the book of which had been discovered in the temple; trust in the Lord had characterised Hezekiah; and in these respective characteristics they are both unequalled as to their walk.
Commentators differ on how these two men compare. One writer ranks Hezekiah higher, and reads their two commendations as marking two different footings before God:
Evidently Hezekiah is on higher ground than Josiah… He is noted for his trust in the Lord (2 Kings 18:5), that is, he took the ground of grace. Josiah took rather the ground of law.
The verse gives the result. One writer names three reasons behind it, and applies them to us:
Josiah was able to do wonderful things for God in a very hard time. First, he sought the Lord with all his heart. Second, he was determined to obey the written Word of God in every detail. Third, he worked hard to throw out of his own life, and out of everything he had influence over, all that did not agree with God's law. Where these things are found in any place, we might see great things yet, so gracious is our God.
The wholeheartedness is Josiah's own, and the same period supplies God's assessment of everyone else:
This illustrates what the devoted energy of faith on the part of one man can accomplish… In the days of Josiah the Lord told Jeremiah, "Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense" (Jer. 3:10). Josiah had turned to God with his whole heart, but not so with the people generally. They could (and did) easily go in the opposite direction when Josiah died.
The praise of verse 25 stands next to the statement that God's anger was not turned away — a tension one writer resolves by distinguishing what grace does from what God's government requires:
Josiah's faithfulness had only delayed the judgment during his own reign… Though God's grace may triumph over man's sin to save him from eternal judgment, yet God's government requires the judgment of whatever evil has been done.
The commendation is not the end of Josiah's story. What comes next is abrupt:
Add to this his splendid character in 2 Kings 23:25, and we have a word-portrait of a devout, zealous, humble-minded, tenderhearted servant of God — up to a certain point in his life. Then, like an alarm bell, come three short words with a dark meaning: "After all this." They bring us without warning to a collapse. It is a sad one, and full of tremendous warning for believers today.
- Word first. Josiah found a lost book, believed it, and made it his own. His unequalled devotion came from Scripture mixed with faith, not from his own merit.
- Heart next. Three things made his work possible. He sought God with his whole heart, obeyed the written Word in every detail, and cleared out all that went against it.
- Youth. At 26, Josiah's own energy of faith carried out obedience to God's Word — a young believer can be a faithful example too.
- Limit. God noticed every bit of Josiah's faithfulness. Yet His government still demanded judgment on the evil already done.
- Warning. After the finest praise ever given to a king come three words: "After all this." A collapse closed the very life God had praised.
But Jehovah turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.
Josiah's reform swept through the kingdom of Judah, yet God's anger against the nation was not turned away. Can one man's obedience undo a nation's guilt? And why did the sins of Manasseh, a king long dead, still hang over the people?
Judah's guilt did not build up in one reign. One writer traces the long history behind the word "provocations":
The nation's cup of guilt had been filling up for centuries. Manasseh's defiance of the Lord's Word and his excessive evil had made the cup overflow.
Could a few faithful men reverse such a sentence? J. N. Darby asks it plainly, and answers:
Did the faithfulness of some men who feared God restore the unity of the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah? Did it throw down the golden calves? Did it identify the Israelites with the temple and altar of God? Never. Did the piety of Josiah turn away the wrath of God from Judah? No.
A king did not act only for himself. His conduct settled how God dealt with the whole people:
The introduction of the Anointed has changed everything. He it is, the King, who became responsible for maintaining order among the people, who governed them, who judged them, and whose conduct determined, so to speak, the judgment God passed on His people.
This is presented as a fixed principle of how God rules the world, not as an oddity of Judah's history. The same writer distinguishes God's dealings with individuals from His dealings with nations:
In this, God often acts towards masses, on the general result which the whole presents in His sight… Sometimes the sin of a chief person, who draws others after him, but who himself is the most guilty, brings judgment upon his descendants and upon his people.
So did Manasseh's own change of heart settle the matter for Judah? The answer separates God's mercy to a soul from His government of a people:
Manasseh turned to God in his later years, yet the evil he had been guilty of was enormous, and it had defiled Judah deeply. God's grace may triumph over man's sin and save him from eternal judgment. Even so, God's government calls for the judgment of whatever evil has been done.
The change happened at the top. One commentator says this look of piety made the grief of a man who saw with God heavier, not lighter:
For although Josiah was a godly king, the reformation of the people was only outward, as we shall see. So the anguish of one who saw things with God was all the greater because of this appearance of piety.
Another writer asks why the improvement was not enough for God:
But 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 a tender conscience, for a heart subject to His Word. He did not find them… God will never be satisfied with anything short of thoroughness.
Josiah knew judgment was still coming. He kept working anyway:
Josiah, warned by the Lord, knew full well that in doing this he would not stop the course of judgment… but he had only one thought. He felt the dishonour done to the Lord and His worship with the deepest humiliation. So he was pressed to honour Him in the middle of Israel's ruin, in the very place where He had been so dishonoured.
Huldah had told Josiah plainly what was coming. The same point holds for anyone who feels things around them are past saving:
Josiah did not sit down in despair because of the serious things Huldah made known to him… It is never too late to obey the Word of God.
- Cause — Judah's cup of guilt filled for centuries. Manasseh's evil made it overflow.
- Reach — a king's conduct settled how God dealt with the whole nation. The leader's sin fell on the people he drew after him.
- Distinction — God's grace can save a man from eternal judgment. His government still judges the evil he did. Manasseh's pardon and Judah's punishment stand together.
- Limit — the reform changed the outside and left hearts untouched. God looks beneath the surface for reality.
- Response — Josiah honoured God though he knew he could not stop the judgment. It is never too late to obey.
And Jehovah said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will reject this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.
Josiah led a great reformation in Judah. Yet the chapter that records his work ends with God announcing that Judah, Jerusalem and the temple would all be swept away. Why did a real revival not cancel a sentence already passed?
The reason goes back to an earlier king, Manasseh. One writer traces the sentence to him:
The nation's cup of sin had been filling up for centuries. Manasseh's defiance of the LORD's Word, and his extreme evil, made the cup overflow. In 2 Kings 21:10-15 we have a summary of the LORD's messages to that wicked king. He had gone beyond the Amorites in sin. So the LORD was bringing such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who heard of it would tingle. The LORD would wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. He would forsake His people and make them a prey and a spoil to all their enemies. They had provoked their God to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt. It was persistent and hopeless evil.
Josiah's reform was real. Why was it not enough?
Royal power brought about a great reformation, but it left the hearts of most of the people untouched. It was the last effort of the Spirit of God to restore the people as a nation... But why could God not rest in the improved outward state of Judah in Josiah's day? He looked beneath the surface. He looked for reality, for tender consciences, for hearts that bowed to His word. He did not find them. The "devotion of your youth" and "love as a bride" were missing. God will never be satisfied with anything short of thoroughness.
So what did Josiah's faithfulness achieve, and what became of Manasseh himself?
Josiah's faithfulness had only delayed the judgment during his own reign. Manasseh had turned to God in his later years, but the evil he had been guilty of was enormous, and it had deeply defiled Judah. God's grace may triumph over man's sin and save him from eternal judgment. Yet God's government still judges whatever evil was done. So God would remove Judah from their land, just as He had allowed Israel to be removed.
The verse names two losses: the city He chose and the house where He put His name. More went with them.
Jerusalem was the place which He had chosen, the temple the place where He had put His name. The ark of the covenant of the God of the whole earth was there. The family of David was there — a family chosen to maintain His relationship with His people. So were the Urim and the Thummim, the means of receiving light and direction from God through the priesthood. Judah had sinned. And the family of David, on whose conduct everything depended, had failed in faithfulness too. There was no remedy, and God must reject Judah as He had rejected Israel.
God had already removed Israel. Now Judah, holding all of this, falls under the same sentence.
If the house was His, why not keep it standing?
But how could He keep them there, and so approve the sin that existed? That would have been worse still, and God carries out the judgment He had pronounced on His people. The house of God is destroyed, the family of David is led into captivity, and the times of the Gentiles begin. By the authority of the God of heaven, rule over the world passes into the hands of the Gentiles.
The same God who removed them had already spoken of bringing them back.
Already, at the moment of leaving Jerusalem, He announced the deliverance and the blessing. He had done the same before driving Adam and Eve out of Eden. His words were: "I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel" (Ezekiel 11:17).
- Cause — Manasseh's defiance overflowed a cup that had been filling for centuries. The sentence in this verse dates from him, not from Josiah.
- Cover — Josiah's reform was real, but it never reached the heart. God looked beneath the surface and found nothing there.
- Cost — grace saved Manasseh from eternal judgment, yet God still judged the evil he had done.
- Casting off — city, temple, ark, David's line and the means of guidance all go together. That puts Judah where Israel already was.
- Continuation — as He sent them away, He promised to gather them back. The removal ends an era, not His purpose.
And the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
This verse is the standard closing note for a reign. It points the reader to a fuller record kept somewhere else, and it comes right after the highest praise given to any king of Judah. Three questions follow. Which book does it point to? Why does Kings tell us less than that book held? And what did God choose to keep of this life?
The "Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah" is not the biblical book of Chronicles. The writer of Kings names such documents again and again. One commentator explains how a book inspired by God can lean on them.
In various places reference is made to books which contain more about the life of the king in question, and the writer may have based his accounts on them. Reference is made, for example, to the book of the Acts of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41), then several times to the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel and to the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. The author of the books of Kings was able to use these "references" under the guidance of the Holy Spirit while writing his God-inspired work.
Kings and Chronicles both cover Josiah, and they do not draw on the same material.
The writer of Kings always drew his material from state records, it seems. Examples are "the book of the acts of Solomon" and "the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah." Chronicles includes more of the writings of individual people, or selections from them. These include "Samuel the seer," "Nathan the prophet," "Gad the seer," the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the visions of Iddo the seer.
after-note: DELETE
The difference shows up in what each account expands:
The Chronicles record gives prominence to the notable Passover which Josiah held in Jerusalem, while Kings mentions it only in passing. But Kings deals at great length with his energetic purging of the land from its idolatries, from Dan to Beersheba, and Chronicles hardly notices it.
So what were the acts this verse sums up? One commentator says where they came from, and it was not the king's own goodness.
To the end of his career Josiah put into practice the principles he had drawn from the Scriptures. There was no king like him, either before or after him. That was not due to his personal merit or his righteousness. It was because the Word of God, mixed with faith in his heart, had become part of who he was.
This summary comes just after a hard word: God's anger against Judah still stood. One commentator explains what Josiah's obedience did and did not change.
The Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath against Judah. Josiah's faithfulness had only delayed the judgment during his own reign. Manasseh turned to God in his later years. Even so, the evil he had been guilty of was enormous, and it had deeply defiled Judah. God's grace may triumph over man's sin and save him from eternal judgment. Yet God's government still judges whatever evil has been done.
This closing note ends more than one reign. One writer marks two things that stopped with Josiah.
Josiah was the last good king to sit on the throne of David, "till He comes whose right it is." He was also the last whose body found a resting place among the kings, in "the tombs of his fathers."
Human records can only list what a king did. One writer points to what God Himself noticed.
This is a remarkable commendation the Lord has given to His faithful servant. He takes notice of everything in His people that is of Himself and for Himself.
- Written elsewhere — The verse points to the state records of Judah's kings. The writer of Kings used them under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
- Written twice — Kings and Chronicles use different material. Kings expands the purging of the land; Chronicles expands the Passover.
- Written from a book — Josiah's acts came out of Scripture. The Word mixed with faith had become part of the man, and no king before or after matched him.
- Written, yet not cancelled — The praise sits beside a judgment God did not lift. Josiah's faithfulness delayed it for his lifetime. God's government still had to deal with the evil.
- Written by God — Human records ran out with him. He was the last good king, and the last buried among the kings. What lasts is this: God notices everything in His people that is of Himself and for Himself.