I've been reading about Judah's King Josiah and am amazed at what the Bible has to say about this man though we seldom hear of him. He reigned from approximately 640 B.C. to 608 B.C., and his grandfather was King Manasseh who was rebuked by the Lord for the evil he did. Josiah was also the father of King Jehoiakim, who reigned when the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar first conquered Jerusalem.
Though there are about two chapters written in 2 Kings about all that Josiah did, a small passage written at the end of his life spoke heavily to me:
"The king commanded all the people, 'Keep the Passover of the LORD your God as written in the book of covenant.' No such Passover had ever been kept from the time of the judges who judged Israel through the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah.... Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his mind and with all his heart and with all his strength according to all the law of Moses, and no one like him arose after him.
In spite of all that, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath and anger, which burned against Judah because of all the provocations Manasseh had provoked Him with." 2 Kings 23:21-22, 25-26
Josiah did all that he could do and was loved by the Lord, but His wrath must be satisfied. God did allowed him to reign 31 years and die in the first battle leading to Jerusalem's eventual capture, but it still had to come in order to accomplish the fulfillment of His words. Even the Word of God says there was no king like Josiah - not before of after him - who turned so completely to the Lord, yet even his two sons who reigned did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and his people were captured.
So why bother? Because the promise of the Lord is Good and True. Josiah sent priests to a prophetess named Huldah, who spoke a message to him from the Lord - "...because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I Myself have heard you - declares the LORD. Therefore I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place..." 2 Kings 22:19-20
The Lord promised Josiah that he would not see all the disaster and would die in peace, but read 2 Kings 23:29. "During his reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched up to the king of Assyria at the Euphrates river. King Josiah went to confront him, and at the Megiddo when Neco saw him he killed him" So what happened to dieing in peace? I believe that the peace the Lord promised to Josiah was in his spirit - not just in his physical realm. God promised him shâlôm - peace, just as Christ promised it to us. Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful."
This is the peace I believe Josiah had. This is the peace available to all who will believe: The peace of a trouble free and fearless heart - In the midst of a city, country, and world gripped by the chaotic consequences of sin.
Yes, things will go terribly wrong in life, but we've been given Peace.
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