Josiah's Obedience To The Law Would Prove To Be Insufficient To Prevent The Final Catastrophe For Judah Because Jerusalem's Sin Had Been Too Great And Was Still Too Deeply Imbedded In The People (2 Kings 23:24-27).
With all his enthusiasm and godliness Josiah could only reform the outward trappings of Yahwism and demonstrate his own zeal and love for YHWH. What he could not do was force the people to follow his example in their hearts. The sins of Manasseh had brought out how willing the people had been to follow him in the path of idolatry. They had demonstrated what the people of Judah had really become in spite of God's amazing deliverance in the time of Hezekiah.
2 Kings 23:24 sums up and puts the cap on the reformation, and includes the new element of the removal of all that was connected with the occult. From now on men would seek to YHWH only. The whole land was being swept clean, and it was in confirmation of the law which was written in the book which Hilkiah, the Priest, had found in the house of YHWH. For of all the kings of Judah there was none, not even Hezekiah, who so fully followed the Law of Moses with all his heart and with all his soul. Hezekiah had been the ultimate when it came to trusting YHWH, but Josiah was the ultimate in obeying Him.
Nevertheless Josiah's obedience, like Hezekiah's trust, while it averted YHWH's wrath for a time, was not sufficient to totally remove that wrath, for Judah's provocation was too great (and it is significant that just as Hezekiah's trust had been seen to fail in his dealings with Babylon, so Josiah's would be seen to fail in a similar way). It would not be until there came a Son of David whose trust and obedience was total that final deliverance for God's people could come.
Analysis.
a Moreover those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations who were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of YHWH (2 Kings 2:23-24).
b And like him was there no king before him, who turned to YHWH with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, nor after him did there arise any like him (2 Kings 23:25).
a Notwithstanding, YHWH did not turn not from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him (2 Kings 23:26).
Note that in ‘a' we have a summary of what Josiah had to put away from Judah and Jerusalem, and in the parallel it is YHWH's anger over these thing that will result in the final destruction of Judah. Central in ‘b' is the incomparability of Josiah.
‘Moreover those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations who were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of YHWH.'
Josiah's cleansing of Judah went further than just the sites involving pagan ritual. It also included those who sought to parallel the prophets as obtainers of information from the ‘other world' by engaging in the occult. Those who ‘had familiar spirits' were mediums who claimed to consult the dead. The ‘wizards' too claimed contact with the ‘other world'. The teraphim are associated with divination (compare Judges 17:5 where they are paralleled with the ephod in Micah's own personal sect, and see Ezekiel 21:26). The word possibly associates with the Hittite ‘tarpis', indicating a type of evil or protecting spirit. All had idolatrous associations. So these were removed along with all the other idols and abominations, and it was in order to ‘confirm the words of the Law' which were written in the Book of the Law which had been discovered.
Here again we have a number of indications that suggest that the Law Book consisted of more than Deuteronomy. We read, for example, of ‘those who have familiar spirits'. But this is a way of putting it which is paralleled only in Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:6, (compare also Leviticus 20:27). Deuteronomy, in its only mention of familiar spirits, speaks of ‘consulters of familiar spirits' (Deuteronomy 18:11). The terminology used here is thus totally unexpected if it was inspired by a section of Deuteronomy, but fully understandable if inspired by Leviticus. The teraphim are only mentioned in the Pentateuch in Genesis 31:19; Genesis 31:34-35 (and then in Judges 17:5; Judges 18:14; Judges 18:17-18; Judges 18:20). The idea of the ‘putting away of idols (gilulim)' is something found only in Leviticus 26:30 (where the idea is described in an even more forceful way). Deuteronomy 29:17 does speak of such ‘idols' as something seen among the nations among whom they found themselves, but it contains no mention of putting them away. On the other hand ‘abominations' are only mentioned in Deuteronomy 29:17 (although even then they are nowhere specifically said to need putting away). Yet here in Kings all these things are said to be put away ‘to confirm the words of the Law which were written in the book --- which was found in the house of YHWH'. This must again be seen as suggesting that the Book of the Law included a considerable portion of the Pentateuch over and above Deuteronomy.
‘And like him was there no king before him, who turned to YHWH with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, nor after him did there arise any like him.'
As a result of his zealous activities to observe the Law in all its fullness Josiah is recommended in terms which deliberately remind us of his making of the covenant in 2 Kings 23:3. Here it is stressed that what he covenanted, he also carried into action. (Happy the person who can say the same). Note the addition of ‘with all his might' which stresses this. He was not just a hearer, but a doer also. Thus while Hezekiah had been incomparable because he trusted in YHWH with all his might, Josiah was incomparable because he obeyed Him with all his might by seeking to fully observe His Law as discovered in the Temple, that is, ‘all the law of Moses'.
‘Notwithstanding, YHWH did not turn not from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.'
His activity was, however, too late to prevent God's wrath being visited on Judah. Even his righteousness was not sufficient, and this was because Manasseh's sin, and Judah's sin, had been too great and was too firmly imbedded within the psyche of Judah. It was not, of course, that YHWH would not have forgiven them had they truly repented. And had every king who followed Josiah behaved like he did then the outpouring of God's wrath would certainly have been continually delayed. But the fact was that YHWH knew the truth about men's hearts, and was already aware of what Josiah's sons would do, and what Judah would do. He was thus aware that within twenty five short years all would be over. (We must remember, however, that the book does not end with that, but with the raising up of the erring son of David to place of acceptance, something which had within it a germ of hope for the future. But we must also remember that His mercy revealed in that had not prevented the collapse of both Israel and Judah. God is not mocked).
In a sense we could say that Judah, as with Israel before them, had committed ‘the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit'. They had resisted YHWH for so long that resistance had become so ingrained within them that even the revival under Josiah was insufficient to stem the tide. Thus although those who in the future would listen to the pleadings of Jeremiah would find salvation and hope in God, the majority of Judah would await only judgment and darkness (as the Jewish leaders also would in the time of Jesus). The truth is that God is very patient, and allows His light to burn on for so long, but if it is not finally heeded eventually He allows it to die out. (We can compare Revelation 2:5. The Ephesian church, along with its fellow churches in Asia Minor, which had enjoyed such great privileges, gradually lost their illumination and sank into formalism and error, and the result was that eventually the Muslim hordes came in and their future became one of darkness. They had grieved God once too often. We see the light similarly growing dim even now in the UK, a light which, unless it is revived, will slowly die out. And make no mistake about it, the USA, which is under grave spiritual attack, will be next).
‘And YHWH said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, “My name shall be there”.'
YHWH's verdict on Judah was now pronounced. His warning was that He would remove Judah out of His sight in the same way as He had removed Israel out of His sight. And this would even be true of the city and the Temple that, for David's sake, He had chosen (1 Kings 11:13), and of which He had said, ‘My Name will be there' (compare 1 Kings 8:16; 1 Kings 8:29). For within a few short years His prophet Ezekiel would visually witness His desertion of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 10:1-22 with Ezekiel 11:22-23), and the Ark which bore His name (2 Samuel 6:2) would be lost for ever.
As we know, Jerusalem would later be restored for a further probationary period, but old Israel would not have learned its lesson, and when the true Son of David came they would reject Him, bringing on themselves final destruction. But we must remember as we consider this that His final promise had not been the continuation of Jerusalem, but the continuation of the Davidic house out of which would one day arise the One Who would bring about salvation. That is why 2 Kings will end, not with the rising of Jerusalem from the ashes, but with the rise of the son of David from his captivity. And once Jerusalem was again destroyed the Temple would then be replaced by the new Temple, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the true people of God who have become one with Him in His salvation, and Jerusalem would become the one that was above to which His true people would look (Galatians 4:25-30; Hebrews 12:22), the Jerusalem which is the true city of God. The old has passed way, the new has come, and there is no going back.