Scripture Daily

Context No. 2593 of 4322 · 2 Kings

Context · Reflection

2 Kings 23:28-37: in context

28Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 29In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him, but Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo when he saw him. 30His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place. 31Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done. 33Pharaoh Necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34Pharaoh Necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim; but he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necoh. 36Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, according to all that his fathers had done.

Josiah had been the great reforming king, tearing down idols and renewing the covenant. But he dies suddenly, killed in a needless battle at Megiddo, and what follows is a swift unraveling. His son Jehoahaz reigns three months and does evil; carried off by Egypt, he is replaced by another son, Jehoiakim, who also does evil, taxing the people to pay tribute. In a few short years the reformer's sons have led the nation back down.

Josiah's reforms did not outlast him. He had cleansed the land, but the change had not sunk into the hearts of the people or even his own sons, and once his hand was gone, the old evils returned almost at once. It is a sober lesson about the fragility of renewal that lives in one leader rather than in changed hearts. A reform imposed from the top, however genuine, can collapse in a generation if it was never truly owned below. The question it raises is whether the good in my life is rooted deeply enough to outlast me, or depends on a single hand that will one day be gone.

Is the good in my life rooted deeply in the heart and passed on to others, or does it depend on one moment or one person and could collapse once that is gone?

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