2 Kings 22:11 - Meaning and Application

We hear nothing more here about the temple repairs. No doubt that good work continued well, but the book of the law that was found there now takes center stage, and rightly so. It is not kept in the king’s private room as an old curiosity, something rare to admire. It is read before the king. Those who truly honor their Bibles are the ones who study them and live with them each day, feeding on that bread and walking by that light. People of rank and business should count a close knowledge of God’s word as their greatest duty and honor.

Here we see first the effect the reading of the law had on Josiah. He tore his clothes, as one ashamed of his people’s sin and afraid of God’s anger. He had long believed his kingdom was in bad shape because of the idolatry and evil among them, but he had not realized how bad it was until he heard the law read. The tearing of his clothes showed that his heart was being torn as well, because God had been dishonored and disaster was coming on his people.

Next we see how he turned to God because of this. He said, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me” (2 Kings 22:13). We can suppose he wanted to know two things. First, what must be done to turn away God’s anger and keep the judgments our sins deserve from falling on them? When people are convicted of sin and of coming judgment, they should ask, “What must I do to be saved?” and “How shall I come before the Lord?” If you ask this, ask quickly, before it is too late. Second, he wanted to know what they should expect and prepare for. He admitted, “Our fathers have not listened to the words of this book.” If this is the right rule, then their fathers have clearly been very wrong. When the commandment came, sin came alive and was seen for what it was. In the mirror of the law, he saw his people’s sins as more numerous and more serious than before, and more deeply sinful.

From this he concluded that great wrath must be burning against them. If this is truly God’s word, and if he will be faithful to it, as certainly he will, then they are all undone. He had never thought the warnings of the law were so severe, or the curses of the covenant so terrible, as they now appeared. It was time to think carefully if these things were against them. Those who truly feel the weight of God’s wrath cannot help being eager to gain his favor and to learn how to make peace with him. Rulers should ask on behalf of their people and seek to prevent the judgments of God they see coming.

Josiah sent this inquiry through some of his chief men, who are named in (2 Kings 22:12) and again in (2 Kings 22:14). In this way he showed honor to God’s message by sending people of the highest rank to attend to it. He sent them to Huldah the prophetess (2 Kings 22:14). The gift of prophecy, that priceless treasure, was sometimes given not only to those thought of as strong vessels, but also to weaker ones, so that the power would clearly be seen as God’s. Miriam helped lead Israel out of Egypt (Micah 6:4), Deborah judged them, and now Huldah taught them God’s mind. Her being a married woman did not lessen her calling as a prophetess, for marriage is honorable in all.

It was a mercy to Jerusalem that when Bibles were scarce, they had prophets. Later, when prophecy stopped, they had more Bibles. God never leaves himself without witness, because he will not leave sinners without excuse. Jeremiah and Zephaniah were prophesying at this time, yet the king’s messengers chose Huldah as their oracle. This may have been because her husband, Shallum, held a court position as keeper of the wardrobe, so they knew her better and had more confidence in her calling than in anyone else. They had likely asked her for counsel before and had found that the word of God in her mouth was true. She lived in Jerusalem, in the second district of the city, called Mishneh. The Jews say she prophesied among the women, the ladies of the court, since she herself was one of them, and they likely had their rooms there.

Happy is the court that had a prophetess within reach and knew how to value her. Huldah did not answer in the polished language of a court official, saying, “Please give my humble respects to the king.” She spoke as a prophetess, speaking for the one before whom all people stand alike: “Tell the man who sent you to me” (2 Kings 22:15). Even kings, though they may be like gods to us, are only men before God, and he deals with them that way. With God there is no favor shown because of rank.

She first told Josiah what judgments God had stored up for Judah and Jerusalem (2 Kings 22:16, 2 Kings 22:17). “My wrath will be kindled against this place,” she said. And what is hell itself but the fire of God’s wrath against sinners? Notice two things about it. First, its strength and duration. It is kindled so strongly that it cannot be put out. The decree has already gone out. It is too late now to try to stop it. The guilt of Jerusalem will not be removed by sacrifice or offering. Hell is unquenchable fire. Second, she showed how this judgment relates to their sin and to God’s warnings. They had done these things as if on purpose, to provoke him. It was a fire they had lit themselves. They kept provoking him, until at last he was provoked. The disaster would come exactly according to the words in the book the king of Judah had read. Scripture would be fulfilled. Those who would not be ruled by the command would be ruled by the penalty. God will prove no less terrible to unrepentant sinners than his word says he is.

Then she told him what mercy God had set aside for him. She singled out his great tenderness and concern for God’s glory and for the good of his kingdom (2 Kings 22:19). “Your heart was tender.” God will make a distinction between those who make a difference in themselves and those who do not. Most of the people were hardened and had not humbled their hearts, and so had the wicked kings before him. But Josiah’s heart was tender. He felt the impact of God’s word, trembled before it, and gave in to it. He was deeply grieved over the dishonor done to God by the sins of his fathers and of his people. He was afraid of God’s judgments, which he saw coming on Jerusalem, and he urgently begged that they might be turned away. That is tenderness of heart. He humbled himself before the Lord and showed it by tearing his clothes and weeping before God, likely in his private room. But God, who sees in secret, saw it, heard it, and kept every tear of tenderness in his bottle. Those who fear God’s wrath most deeply are least likely to feel it.

It seems that these words, “I will bring the land into desolation” (Leviticus 26:32), deeply moved Josiah. When he heard about the desolation and the curse, that is, that God would abandon them and hand them over to evil, he tore his clothes. Before this, the people were not yet fully desolate or fully under the curse, but the warning went straight to his heart.

God also granted him a delay until after his death (2 Kings 22:20): “I will gather you to your fathers.” The saints of that time clearly looked forward to happiness after death, because “gathered to your fathers” was often used as a promise. Josiah could not stop the judgment itself, but God promised that he would not live to see it.

This was a small earthly reward for such outstanding devotion, especially since Josiah died in the middle of his life, before he was forty. If there were no life to come, this promise would have been too little for his faithfulness. But because there is another world, he would be richly rewarded there (Hebrews 11:16). When the righteous is taken away from trouble ahead, he enters peace (Isaiah 57:1, 2).

That promise is made to Josiah here: “You shall go to your grave in peace.” This does not describe how he died, because he was killed in battle. It points to when he died. He died shortly before the Babylonian captivity, the great disaster that made all the others seem small.

So he could truly be said to die in peace, because he did not live to share in that calamity. He died in God’s love and favor, and that gave him a peace that no outward hardship, not even dying in battle, could take away.