EGW — Ms 14, 1903 — Talk/Lessons From Josiah’s Reign
Talk by Mrs. E. G. White at General Conference
The night before last, the experiences and the work of Josiah, the king of Israel, as recorded in the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth chapters of Second Chronicles, and the twenty-second and twenty-third chapters of Second Kings, were presented to me as a lesson that I should bring to the attention of this Conference. {Ms14-1903.1}
“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. ... And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the Lord sent Shaphan, ... the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people; and let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work which is in the house of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house, unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stones to repair the house. Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.” [2 Kings 22:1-7.] {Ms14-1903.2}
This record contains precious instruction for us. Born of a wicked father, surrounded with temptations to follow in his father’s steps, with few counselors to encourage him in the right way, Josiah was true to the God of Israel. He did not repeat his father’s sin in walking in the way of unrighteousness. Although he had not the advantage of the Christian parental influences that many of us have had, he determined to climb upward, instead of descending to the low level of sin and degradation to which his father and grandfather had descended. Warned by their errors, he chose to walk in the right way, and though surrounded by wickedness, he pressed on in the upward path. His course of obedience made it possible for God to graft him from a wild olive tree into a good olive tree, giving him grace to do that which was right in the Lord’s sight. Thus he became a chosen vessel. {Ms14-1903.3}
Josiah “turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.” [Verse 2.] As one who was to occupy a position of trust, he resolved ever to honor God, to obey the instruction that He had given. The only safety for every one in attendance at this Conference is to determine that he will walk uprightly before God. {Ms14-1903.4}
In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, God chose him to superintend the repairing of the temple. It was as this work was being done, that the book of the law was found. Through some mismanagement it had been lost, and the people had been deprived of its instruction. Brethren, have any of you lost the book of the law? Have not many of us lost sight of the precepts that are in this holy book? {Ms14-1903.5}
Upon finding this book, “Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. ... And Shaphan the scribe showed the king saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.” [Verses 8, 10, 11.] {Ms14-1903.6}
The reading of the book of the law, so long forgotten, made a deep impression upon the king’s mind. He realized that something must be done to bring this law to the attention of the people and to lead them to conform their lives to its teachings. By his own course of action, he desired to show his respect for the law. He humbled himself before God, rending his clothes. {Ms14-1903.7}
In his position as king, it was the work of Josiah to carry out in the Jewish nation the principles taught in the book of the law. This he endeavored to do faithfully. In the book of the law itself, he found a treasure of knowledge, a powerful ally in the work of reform. He did not lay this book aside as something too precious to be handled. Realizing that the highest honor that could be placed on God’s law was to become a student of its precepts, he diligently studied the ancient writing and resolved to walk in the light that it shed upon his pathway. {Ms14-1903.8}
When the law was first read to him, Josiah had rent his clothes to signify to the people that he was much troubled because he had not known of this book before and that he was ashamed and painfully distressed because of the works and ways of the people who had transgressed God’s law. As he had in the past seen the idolatry and the impiety existing among them, he had been much troubled. Now as he read in the book of the law of the punishment that would surely follow such practices, great sorrow filled his heart. Never before had he so fully realized God’s abhorrence for sin. {Ms14-1903.9}
Josiah’s sorrow did not end with the expression of words of repentance, with outward demonstrations of grief. He bowed his heart in great humiliation before God, because he knew that the anger of the Lord must be kindled against the people. He rent his heart as well as his garments for the dishonor shown to the Lord God of heaven and earth. He realized what the outcome would be—that God’s displeasure would come upon the people. {Ms14-1903.10}
The king did not pass the matter by as of little consequence. To the priests and the other men in holy office, he gave the command, “Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that is written concerning us.” [Verse 13.] {Ms14-1903.11}
Josiah did not say, “I knew nothing about this book. These are ancient precepts, and times have changed.” He appointed men to investigate the matter, and these men went to Huldah, the prophetess. “And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell the men that sent you unto Me, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read; because they have forsaken Me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore My wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, which sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, As touching the word which thou hast heard, because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold, therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered unto thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.” [Verses 15-20.] {Ms14-1903.12}
In Josiah’s day the Word of the Lord was as binding and should have been as strictly enforced as at the time it was spoken. And today it is as binding as it was then. God is always true to His Word. What should we do—we who have had great light? The law has been kept constantly before us. Time and again we have heard it preached. The Lord’s anger is kindled against His people because of their disregard of His Word. Conviction of soul should send us in penitence to the foot of the cross, there to pray with the whole heart, saying, “What shall we do to be saved? Wherewithal shall we come before the Lord?” [See Acts 16:30; Micah 6:6.] My brethren, inquire quickly, before it is too late. {Ms14-1903.13}
Josiah sent as messengers to the prophetess the highest and most honored of the people. He sent the first men of his kingdom—men who occupied high positions of trust in the nation. Thus he conferred honor upon the oracles of God. {Ms14-1903.14}
God sent Josiah word that Jerusalem’s ruin could not be averted. Even if the people should humble themselves before God, they could not escape their punishment. So long had their senses been deadened by sinning against God, that if the judgments had not come upon them, they would soon have swung into the same sinful course. But because the king humbled his heart before God, he received from Huldah the prophetess the word that the Lord would acknowledge his quickness in seeking God for forgiveness and mercy. Still, the king must leave with God the events of the future; for he could not change them. The provocation had been too great for the punishment to be averted. {Ms14-1903.15}
The king, on his part, left undone nothing that might bring about a reformation. With the hope that something might be done to turn aside the judgment that was to be sent because of the leaven of evil permeating the principles and morals of the whole nation, he summoned a general assembly of the elders of the people, the magistrates, the representatives of Judah and Jerusalem, to meet him in the house of the Lord, with the priests and the prophets, and others engaged in various parts of the Lord’s service. All joined in the deliberations of the assembly. In the place of making a speech to the people, Josiah ordered that the book of the law be read to them. So earnest did he feel that he himself read the law aloud. He was deeply affected, and he read with the pathos of a broken heart. His hearers were greatly affected by the intensity of feeling expressed in his countenance. They were impressed by the fact that the king, notwithstanding his high official position, cast himself wholly on the Lord, trusting in the strength and wisdom of the King of kings, rather than in his own human wisdom. {Ms14-1903.16}
To be a reader of the book of law containing a “Thus saith the Lord” Josiah regarded as the highest position that he could occupy. His congregation was made up of the men of Judah and Jerusalem, and to these men he read the instruction that God had given for the instruction of His people. The highest work of princes in Israel—of physicians, of teachers in our schools, as well as of ministers and those who are in positions of trust in the Lord’s institutions—is to fulfil the responsibility resting upon them, to fasten the Scriptures in the minds of the people as a nail in a sure place, to use their God-given talent of influence to impress the truth that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” [Psalm 111:10.] For the leaders in Israel to extend a knowledge of the Scriptures in all their borders is to promote spiritual health; for God’s Word is a leaf from the tree of life. {Ms14-1903.17}
We fall far short of appreciating the value of God’s Word. To be one with the Lord, to eat of His flesh and drink His blood, is life eternal. When the Saviour made this statement, His disciples did not understand His meaning, whereupon He declared, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” [John 6:63.] {Ms14-1903.18}
When we bring God’s Word into the soul temple, it is eternal life to us. Every day we may have the life of the Son of God. As the physical system is strengthened or weakened by the kind of food we eat, so our spirituality is of the same character as the food we give the mind. If we would appropriate the truth we have, bringing it into the life-service, do you think that there would be so little good done in our world?—No, indeed. {Ms14-1903.19}
If those occupying positions of responsibility were as fully resolved to obey God’s law as they are to make laws for governing those in their service, our institutions would be managed along right lines. Those who occupy positions of trust are to make it their highest aim to know God as revealed in His Word; for to know Him aright is life eternal. {Ms14-1903.20}
Josiah proposed that those highest in authority unite in solemnly covenanting before the Lord to co-operate with one another in bringing about a reformation. “The king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all their heart and with all their soul, which affirmed the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant. And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them without Jerusalem, in the fields of Kedron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.” [2 Kings 23:3, 4.] {Ms14-1903.21}
Like unto Josiah “was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of His great wrath, because of the provocations that Manasseh had provoked Him withal.” [Verses 25, 26.] It was not long before Jerusalem was utterly destroyed. {Ms14-1903.22}