2 Kings 23:25

25. Like unto him was there no king before him It is commonly held that Hezekiah equalled or surpassed him in trusting Jehovah, (2 Kings 18:5,) but that he excelled Hezekiah in his scrupulous adherence to all the law of Moses. But see note on 2 Kings 18:5.

Josiah was the last true theocratic king of Judah, and, from the great events belonging to his reign, as well as his profoundly earnest effort to extirpate idolatry from all Israel, his name and memory are highly panegyrized in the annals of his people. “The remembrance of Josiah,” says the son of Sirach, “is like the composition of the perfume that is made by the art of the apothecary; it is sweet as honey in all mouths, and as music at a banquet of wine. He behaved himself uprightly in the conversation of the people, and took away the abominations of iniquity. He directed his heart unto the Lord, and in the time of the ungodly he established the worship of God. Except David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, all were defective.” Sir 49:1-4 .

Josiah’s reformation is open to criticism, for its methods of violence were such as have ever characterized religious persecutions, and it failed, as the subsequent history shows, to effect any permanent change in the nation for the better. “Large as is the space occupied by it in the historical books,” says Stanley, “by the contemporary prophets it is never mentioned at all.”

It may therefore be held up as signal evidence and admonition that violent measures are useless to effect a genuine or permanent reformation. But we must not judge Josiah’s work by the standards of our Christian age. What other or milder measures could we rationally expect a Jewish king of that age to have thought of? “Judaism,” says Sumner, ( in Schaff’s Lange,) “had intolerance as one of its fundamental principles. Violence in support of Jehovah’s religion was a duty of a Jewish king. In attempting to account for and understand the conduct of Josiah, it would be as senseless to expect him to see and practice toleration as to expect him to use firearms against Necho. We can never carry back modern principles into ancient times and judge men by the standards of to-day.”