Josiah - episode 2

With this post, we finish King Josiah and the kingdom of Judah’s story; we are in chapter 23 and following of the second Book of Kings. Despite the radical religious reform started by Josiah, the Lord does not desist from his purpose. The measure is full and all the curses written in the book of the Law (probably a primitive version of Deuteronomy) for those who would not respect the covenant with the Lord, are about to pounce on the kingdom of Judah. No wonder about God’s apparent severity; the “punishment” is only the consequence of Israel’s evil behavior before (we remember its destruction in 721 BC by the Assyrians) and Judah’s after. We can read some of Moses’ words to the Chosen People. «Behold, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you this day to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce to you this day, that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land, where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed; to love the LORD your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them» (Deut 30,15-20).

King Josiah, as told by Prophetess Huldah, does not see all the disaster brought on Judah. «In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb». To Josiah succeed Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Jehoiakin. The latter surrenders to the Babylonians’ siege (they are a new emerging power which replaced the Assyrians), being deported with the best of the population. «[The king of Babylon] carried out there all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the LORD’s temple, as the LORD had said. He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the officials, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest sort of the people of the land. [...] The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s father’s brother, king is his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah». Zedekiah’s rebellion,after a few years of reign, leads to even worse consequences: a new the siege to Jerusalem, the destruction of the city and of Solomon’s Temple, with a new deportation (we are in 587 BC). This way ends the kingdom of Judah, and the best of its people go into exile.

 

 

They will be years of sadness, when all hope seems to fade away (even the promise of a stable household for King David’s offspring).  However, it will also be a very fruitful time to reflect on the Chosen People’s origins and traditions, trying to maintain them in the midst of a foreign people (the editing of most of Old Testament books from written or oral sources probably dates back to this period). The last part of Prophet Jeremiah’s ministry takes place about Judah’s exile, that he asks to accept as decided by God. In a letter sent to the first deported people, he writes: «Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit. Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there, and do not be diminished. Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.’ [...] “For thus says the LORD, ‘After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for your welfare, and not for calamity, to give you hope and a future» (Jer 29,4-7.10-11). Even the second book of Kings ends with a positive hint, telling about Jehoiachin’s rehabilitation at the Babylonian court. «It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life: and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life ». Follow in the next post.