Vars. 1-7.-Josiah the good. I. His EARLY ACCESSION. "Josiah[' Whom Jehovah heals') was eight years old when he began to reign" (ver. 1). Manasseh, Uzziah, and Joa.ah had been twelve, sixteen, and seven respectively when they ascenJed the throne. Generally speaking, it is perilous to have greatness thrust upon one at too early an age; sometimes premature responsibility calls forth capacities that might otherwise have continued latent. Edward VI., who assumed the crown of England in his tenth year, Charles IX., who was of the same age when he was raised to the throne of France, and Kang Hi (A.D, 1661), who became Emperor of China in his seventh year, were examples of the truth here stated. II. His FERVENT RELIGION. Josiah's piety was: 1. .Ancestral. If his father Amon was not a good man, but the opposite-an insensate idolater and a hardened trangressor (eh. xxxiii. 22, 23)-his mother Jedidah, "Beloved," the daughter of A.daiah of Boscath (2 Kings xxii. 1), may have been a good woman, who, like Eunice of later times (2 'l'im. i. 5), nurtured her son in the fear of Jehovah. Besides, as that son was six years of age before Manasseh died, he may have received from his aged grandfather such instructions as disposed him to the choice of the true religion of Jehovah. In any case, in him was reproduced the piety of the best sovereigns that had preceded him-in par- ticular of Hezekiah, Jothum, Jehoshaphat, and David. 2. Early. "In the eighth year of his reign, while be was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father" (ver. 3). Youthful piety, of which Scripture furnishes numerous examples- Samuel (1 Sam, ii. 26), A.bijah (1 Kings xiv, 13), Obadiah (1 Kings xviii. 12), John (Luke i. 80), Jesus (Luke ii. 52), Timothy (2 Tim. i. 5)-while beautiful in all, is specially attractive in princes. King Edward VI., besides being a good linguist, "had a particular regard for the Holy Scriptures" (Bishop Burnet). Th.at religion which begins in youth is most likely to be permanent, and certain to be most useful. Christ commends religion to the young (Matt. vi. 33). 3. Sincere. (1) Earnest and active, not merely nominal and formal: "He began to seek after the God of David his father," which meant that he inquired after and practised the rites and commandments of the true religion. (2) Humble and obedient, not proud and self-willed: "He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father" (ver. 2), in so far, i.e., as he walked in the ways of Jehovah. (3) Persevering and thorough, not intermittent and incomplete: "He turnr.d not aside to the right hand or to the left" (ver. 2). III. His ZEALOUS REFORMATION. 1. The period of it. Beginning in his twelfth year of reign, i.e. the twentieth of his life, .md terminating in his eighteenth year of reign, or the twenty-sixth of his life, it occupied six years in all (vers. 3, 8). 2. The scene of it. (1) Jerusalem, the metropolis of the kingdom. Reformations, like charity, should be(Tin at home. Many would reform others who have no heart to reform themselves (S~ng of Sol. i. 6). (2) Judah, of which Jerusalem was the capital. Though" begin- ning at Jerusalem," Josiah's reformation should not end there. A good king will give his first thmwhts to the improvement of himself; his second, to the improvement of liis capital, wher~ his court sits and whence his laws proceed; his third, to the improvement of his land and people; his fourth, to the improvement of cities, empires, nati?ns beyond, as far as lies within his power. (3) The cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, in their ruins round about. A. good king will extend his influence a~ widely as possible, and in particular strive to be helpful to those peoples in his vici11i ty 422 'l'RE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [on. :uxtv, 1-33,
that are less enlightened or more necessitous than himself. 3. The manner qf it. With violence-:--probe.bly hinted at in the phrase," with their axes" (ver. 6, margin). "'l'ha reforma~10n exoo:1ted by the king was earnestly intended; it was thorough, it was com• prehens1ve; but 1t was above everything violent" (Ewald, • History of Israel,' iv. 237). This appeRrs more distinctly from 2 Kings (xxiii. 4-20). But the extirpation of religions, no more than of political abuses, can be ca.rried out without a degree of har~hnei,s, Privil~ged iniquity in Church or in state is always difficult to dislodge. 4. The ea:tent of ~t. Judah, Jerusalem, and the Israelitish cities already mentioned were purged from high places, Asherim, images and altars (vers. 3-7). Particularly (1) the altars of the Bae.Jim were broken down in the young king's presence, the sun- im~ges above them being hewn down at his command (ver. 4); (2) the Asherim or "pillars ~nd trees of Asherah " (Keil), with the graven and moften images connected with the impure worship of Aste.rte, were broken in pieces, and their dust (after burn- ing) strewn upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them (ver. 4)-the Book of Kings speaking of the removal of the Asherah from the house of the Lord, and the destruction of the houses of the infamous women who wove tents for the idol (2 Kinas xxiii. 6, 7); and (3) the bones of the priests who had sacrificed at the heathen shrin~s having first been exhumed from their graves, were burnt upon the altars at which the priests had ministered before these were destroyed. LESSONS. 1. The beauty of early piety. 2, The excellence of Christian zeal. 3. The difficulty of executing reformations.-W.