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.