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Context No. 1046 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 34:1-7: in context

1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, and walked in the ways of David his father, and didn’t turn away to the right hand or to the left. 3For 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, the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images. 4They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and he cut down the incense altars that were on high above them. He broke the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images in pieces, made dust of them, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. 6He did this in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even to Naphtali, around in their ruins. 7He broke down the altars, beat the Asherah poles and the engraved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, then returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah becomes king of Judah at eight years old and reigns thirty-one years, and the Chronicler says he did what was right and did not turn aside to the right or left. The passage tracks his growth in stages. In the eighth year of his reign, while still young, only sixteen, he began to seek the God of David his father. Then in the twelfth year, at twenty, he began to purge Judah of its idols, the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved and cast images, smashing the altars of the Baals and grinding the idols to dust across the land.

The two-stage progression is worth watching. First, at sixteen, Josiah began to seek God; before he reformed anything outward, he turned his own heart toward the LORD. Then, four years later, that inward seeking overflowed into decisive outward action, tearing down the idolatry that had corrupted the land. The order matters. The reform of the nation grew out of the reform of the king's own heart; he sought God first, and the cleansing of the country followed. Notice also how young he was: he began seeking God at sixteen and acting on it at twenty, not waiting until he was old and established but giving his youth to God and doing something with it. A young person seeking God early, and then having the courage to act boldly against entrenched evil, is exactly what changed the direction of a nation. Josiah did not inherit a faithful kingdom; he inherited generations of accumulated idolatry, and as a young man he set about undoing it because he had first sought the God of his father David.

Am I letting the seeking of God in my own heart come first and then overflow into bold action, and if I am young, am I giving these years to God rather than waiting until later?

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