May 07, 2023

The reforms of King Josiah

2 Kings Lesson 24 Study Questions

1. The king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah: Josiah 

heard the promise of both eventual judgment and the immediate 

delay of judgment. He did not respond with indifference or simple 

contentment that he would not see the judgment in his day. He 

wanted to get the kingdom right with God, and he knew that he 

could not do it all by himself – he needed all the elders of 

Judah to join in broken repentance with him.

2. The king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the 

LORD, to follow the LORD: King Josiah stood before the people 

and publicly declared his commitment to obey the word of God to 

the very best of his ability (with all his heart and all his soul).

3. And all the people took a stand for the covenant: They did 

this in response to the example and leadership of King Josiah. We 

do not read of any command for the people to do this; they did it 

spontaneously as they followed the king’s example and leadership.

4. The fact that this happened among all the people means that this 

was a special work of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that there 

are times when the Holy Spirit comes upon people as a group, 

which is a different work than the individual filling of the Spirit. 

There are times when the Holy Spirit seems to work on a group, 

and we should pray for such moving of the Holy Spirit today.

5. Then he removed the idolatrous priests: Any thorough 

reformation can not only deal with sinful things; it must also deal 

with sinful people. If sinful people are not dealt with, they will 

quickly bring back the sinful things that were righteously removed.

6. Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted 

persons: Supposedly sacred prostitution was an integral part of 

the worship of many of these pagan idols. The temple had become 

a brothel and King Josiah corrected this disgraceful perversion.

7. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of 

Hinnom: “Here it appears the sacred rites of Molech were 

performed, and to this all the filth of the city was carried, and 

perpetual fires were kept up in order to consume it. Hence, it has 

been considered a type of hell; and in this sense it is used in the 

New Testament.”

8. Moreover the altar that was at Bethel: King Josiah was so 

diligent in his reforms that he took down altars located in the 

former kingdom of Israel. He removed the pagan altar at Bethel 

that Jeroboam set up hundreds of years earlier.

9. What gravestone is this that I see: This is the remarkable 

fulfillment of a prophecy made hundreds of years earlier. The 

words of this anonymous prophet are recorded in 1 Kings 13:1-2

10. The Passover remembered the central act of redemption in 

the Old Testament: God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt in the 

days of Moses. Their neglect of the Passover proved that they had 

neglected to remember the LORD’s work of redemption for them. 

It was as if a group of modern Christians had completely forgotten 

communion or the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, which 

remembers Jesus’ work of redemption for us.

11. There was no king like him: Nevertheless, not long after 

his reign, Judah was severely judged by the LORD. This shows that 

despite all Josiah’s efforts, there was an outward conformity 

among the people of Judah, yet their hearts were not really turned

towards the LORD.

12. King Josiah went against him… Pharaoh Necho killed 

him: “It was not of faith, else why ‘disguise’ himself? There is no 

record of any prayer before the battle, as in the case of so many 

of his godly ancestors; and this rash act of Josiah seems 

unaccountable.”