Josiah was inspired. That’s what good leaders do and leave behind. And Josiah was deeply inspired by the life of David. Based on that inspiration, Josiah led Israel into great reform. He not only removed evil but he restored the temple. And now it was time to actually use the temple for what it was meant–the sacrifices, the offering and worship.
So Josiah rallied the people to celebrate the Passover. He himself donated 30,000 sheep and 3000 bulls. Wowsers. Can you imagine? The others donated as well. Then all the priests and Levites were employed in their particular skills and call of service according to David and in the Law of Moses. And because all the people were provided for, there was an extraordinary celebration to the Lord.
“No Passover had been observed like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet” (2 Chr 35:18).
It was a Passover to remember for the ages. There was great joy, music, celebration and more as the people got right with the Lord (sacrifices and offerings) and celebrated his goodness to Israel. The people and the nation and the king were floating high in their spirits.
Then some time later the Egyptian King Neco came to wage war along the Euphrates. When Josiah went out to meet him, King Neco told him to leave, that his war wasn’t against Josiah and the people of Judah. But that God had spoken to Neco to oppose a dynasty.
And in a strange twist, while the Gentile king Neco obeyed the Lord, King Josiah, a ruler of the covenant people of Judah, did not. He went to the valley of Megiddo to fight and was wounded by archers. They put him in another chariot and rushed him back home to Jerusalem where he passed away.
It was a very sad day for Judah and Jerusalem.
“Jeremiah chanted a dirge over Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women still speak of Josiah in their dirges to this very day” (2 Chr 35:25).
Even though it was a lapse of judgment in Josiah that cost him his life, he was still remembered for the great things he accomplished, primarily “his deeds of faithful love according to what is written in the law of the Lord” (2 Chr 35:26). This boy who became king at the age of 7 was remembered for all the great things he did and his faithfulness to the Lord.
And when someone lives their life well, it inspires generations to come. This is how Jeremiah would remember him (Jer 22:15-16)
Did not your father have food and drink?
He did what was right and just,
so all went well with him.
He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know me?”
declares the Lord.
