HEBREW WORD STUDY – JOSIAH – יאשׁיהו

II Chronicles 35:22:  “Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.”

Josiah was the last of the good kings in Judah.  He came to power at the age of eight after his father King Amon was assassinated and ruled for 38 years. Through the influence of a Godly mother, he destroyed all the idols, discovered the Holy Scriptures that had been hidden away and led to people back to the Word of God and brought a great revival to the land.  However, at the end of his life, he feared the Assyrians would make an alliance with Egypt, would regain their position as a world power and then come against Judah. Even when God spoke through the Egyptian general Necho to stand down, Josiah still fought the battle God forbid him to fight.   After a lifetime of walking with God, trusting Him, he could not trust God in this matter with the Assyrians and took his army to stop the Egyptians. In the ensuing battle, Josiah was killed.

Josiah’s name means the one through whom God heals. It comes from a Semitic root ‘ashah, one who supports.  It is also closely related to the word ‘ashur which is the root word for Assyria. Indeed the whole story of Josiah is told through his name.  Through Josiah God healed His nation and it was Josiah who supported God’s mission and call upon Israel.  But it was Josiah’s fear of Assyria that brought him down.

When Josiah died his two sons fought over the throne.  The youngest Jehoahaz seized the throne but three months later Necho the Egyptian general deposed him and set his brother Jehoaiakim whose name means “whom God has set up” as the king who ruled another eleven years as a puppet for Egypt.  The Talmud describes him as a ruthless tyrant. Judah was eventually led into captivity by the Babylonians having never returned to God.

What haunts me is that you have a king, Josiah, who loved God with all his heart, helped introduce a revival in his land and bring his people back to God  and then after 38 years of ruling Judah, at the age of 46 God took him home.  He was only 46, God could have used him for many more years, but he failed at the end of his life. In one of his greatest tests, after years of faithful service, Josiah failed to trust God.

As I approach 68 years of life on this planet, I think how I trusted in God all those years, how God was so faithful to me all those years.  Now I am facing a real test, I am strongly tempted to trust in the arm of the flesh, rather than in God.  I really don’t see how God will work in my situation, yet after all these years of faithful service, I must be aware of Josiah.  Even after a lifetime of trusting God and serving God, he let fear overtake him, he sought the arm of the flesh and he failed. No matter how many years of service to God, years of trusting God and seeing his power, the enemy lurks in the shadows, he knows your weakness and you are still vulnerable no matter how many years you have trust in God. We must always be on guard no matter how strong we think we are and trust God, no matter how strong the temptation is to lean on the arm of the flesh.