Josiah, The Boy King Chapter 11 Part 2

Josiah, the Boy King  Chapter 11  Part 2

           

            When Josiah finished reading the words of the holy books he handed them back to the priests to return to safe-keeping in the temple.  Then he stepped out again in front of all the people and spoke in a commanding voice.

            “This day, do the people of Israel make a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all their hearts and with all their souls.  This day do I, Josiah the king, and all the people of my kingdom covenant to perform all which is written in this book.”

            Josiah paused and gave a long searching look over the crowd before continuing.  “Now, all these here present who will make this vow to God and covenant before Him to keep  His word, stand and shout with your king—Jehovah, He is God!  Jehovah, He is God!”

            All across the great courtyard, before the king’s words had even vanished away, a mighty response rose from the hearts and lips of the people—“Jehovah, He is God!  Jehovah, He is God!”

            In the small room above the steps the prince and his friends heard the shout of the king and the response of the people.  The eyes of all the young boys were focused on Jehoahaz.  If he stood, they would stand, but they weren’t about to do anything He didn’t do.

            Finally the young prince of Judah jumped to his feet.  “I’ll stand,” he shouted.  “I’ll stand on my head.”  He promptly suited action to his words on top of one of the pillows.

            Quickly all of the other boys followed him, trying to stand on their heads, tumbling all over the pillows and laughing the entire time.

            That day was only the beginning as far as Josiah was concerned.  He read the book every morning and every evening, just like he had promised he would.  Everything he read was put into practice in the kingdom and in his own life.

            “Hilkiah, listen to this.  ‘Keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God, for in the month Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.”

            “We need to keep the Passover, Hilkiah.  Have our people ever kept the Passover”

            “Not that I can remember,” said the priest.  “Perhaps it has never been done since the day of Moses.”

            “Well, we need to keep the Passover.   That’s what the book says.  Call a meeting of all the priests.  We’ll need the help of all of them on this one.”

            So on the fourteenth day of the first month, a great feat day was held.  All the priests gathered from the villages where they had gone to live when there was nothing to do in the temple.  They read the books and found out what their jobs were to be.  Most of them had never offered a sacrifice in their entire lives so they had to be taught the proper methods for offering lambs.

            All the people were informed that the Passover was going to take place and that the book said each one was to bring an offering.  Josiah was a little worried about making everyone bring a sacrifice because it had been so long since any of them had given anything to God.  With the announcement he told the people that he would personally donate 30,000 lambs the people could use.  Beyond that he would give 3000 bullocks for sacrifice as well.

            When some of the godly leaders heard what the king had done, they gave animals for sacrifice as well so there were plenty of sacrifices available even for those who could not afford to bring a lamb.  It was possible for everyone to come and worship God.

            And what a day it was.

            Very early in the morning the priests began killing the lambs and pouring the blood onto the altar.  As fast as one priest could lead a lamb up to the altar it would be killed, it’s blood poured out, and its body passed on to another waiting priest.  Certain parts of the lamb would be burned on another altar, but most of it was placed into large pots and cauldrons over an open fire.  There the meat was roasted in preparation for the great feast later on in the day.  By mid-morning men were lined up all across the temple courtyard bringing lambs and bullocks for sacrifice.  The priests worked as quickly as they could, but it didn’t look like they would ever get all the sacrifices offered before the day was done.

            About noon the first of the meat in the pots was ready.  The Levites were called in and they began to carry the meat outside for the feast.  There wasn’t room to set up tables for everyone who had come to Jerusalem so each family spread a blanket on the ground in the courtyard or the street outside the gate.  The meat was distributed quickly and since there was plenty for everyone so one worried about whether or not they were the first to be served.  Everyone was so happy to be doing what God had told them to do that a good mood prevailed throughout the entire huge crowd.

            While the people were eating, the temple choirs came out and began to sing.  What beautiful voices they had as they sang songs which their fore-father Asaph had written especially for the Passover in the days of David the king.  It was just a perfect day, feasting and listening to the songs of praise to God.

            But that was just the first day.  For an entire week the feasting and worship continued.  For seven days the people at of the animals which had been given for sacrifice.  For seven days they picnicked and visited and fellowshipped, sleeping under the stars at night and listening to the temple choirs by day.  Everyone said that no other king of Israel had ever led such a Passover celebration.  Nothing like this had happened since the days of the prophet Samuel.

            The next few years were peaceful in the land of Judah.  Josiah saw to it that the people kept their promises to serve the Lord.  No one was allowed to worship idols.  And as far as the king knew his commands were being obeyed.  Benjamin and Shaphan tried at times to tell him their suspicions about Jehoahaz, but he wouldn’t listen to them.  He just wouldn’t listen.

            “Everyone likes Jehoahaz,” he said to his friends.  “He studies with his tutor from the temple and always gets a good report from him.  Sometimes he even goes up to the temple on his own to read the holy books.  You don’t have to worry about my son.”

            “But he is so careless about obeying the books, Josiah.  We’ve heard that he even makes fun of people who are serving God.”

            “What do you mean?  Do you have any proof of that?”

            “Well, not really.  But we were told that at Hilkiah’s funeral he and his friends were seen playing dice while you were delivering the eulogy.”

            “Who told you that?  Did they really see him or is this just another lie by those people who didn’t like his mother Hamutal.”

            “Josiah, listen to us.  We’re your friends.”

            “You are.  But it was friends like you who made me lose the only woman I ever really loved.  Well, it won’t work with her son, I tell you.  It won’t work.”

            If Josiah had not had that argument with his friends about Jehoahaz he probably would have listened to them a little later and not made the terrible mistake he made.  But the argument had taken place and he continued to avoid meeting with the two men who had been his greatest counselors.

            Things had been peaceful in Judah for so many years that it was really a surprise when the messenger burst into the courtroom that day.

            “King Josiah.  King Josiah.  Pharoah-Necho, king of Egypt is marching this way with thousands of soldiers.  I’ve just come from the Negev and have seen them with my own eyes.  The clouds of dust hang over the roads for miles on end.”

            It ad been years since Josiah had used either his sword or his bow and arrows, but the words of the messenger immediately reminded him of those days when there had not been a better swordsman in all the land of Judah then young Josiah.

            “Call the captain of the host.  Have him gather all the men who serve in the army here in Jerusalem.  Send out a message to those who serve in other parts of the land as well.  Pharoah-Necho will not be allowed to take one inch of the land of Judah.”

            It actually took several days for the army to assemble.  They were not really ready for battle.  Finally a large enough force was mustered and Josiah set off at the head of them to lead them into battle against Pharoah-Necho.  The first day they traveled about ten miles and camped in a valley near the village of Mizpah.  It was there that soldiers brought an Egyptian to Josiah’s tent late at night.

            “We found him on the edge of the camp.  He says he has a message for you from Pharoah-Necho, but he might be a spy.”

            Josiah stood tall in front of the Egyptian.  “And what is this message which you claim to carry from your king?”

            Instead of being scared, the Egyptian soldier stared right back into the king’s eyes.  “He said to tell you that his quarrel is not with the king of Judah.  He is not marching against your land.  He is marching through to battle with the king of Assyria.  He says he will march through without destruction and will fight against Carchemish and not against Jerusalem.

            Josiah thought to himself, “What if the messenger is telling the truth?  What if Pharoah really was going up to fight Assyria.  That wouldn’t hurt him, Assyria was also his enemy.  But then again, what if it was a lie?  How he longed to ask Shaphan and Benjamin for advice, but they were back in Jerusalem.  Who could he turn to?”

            Suddenly he realized that someone else had come into the tent.  It was his oldest son Jehoahaz, now 23,  and a handsome young man.

            “I heard it all, father.  He’s lying.  Besides, if you don’t fight Pharoah now, do you suppose he will leave you alone after his battle with Assyria?  If he gets beat he’ll be looking for someone to pick on when he comes back through here.  If he wins he will feel like to owns the world, us included.  Let’s go fight.”

            Josiah wished again that Benjamin and Shaphan were there, but he nodded agreement.

            “Yes, let’s go fight. Guards, take him away.”

            ‘But hear me yet this word,” said the messenger before the guards could grab him.  “Pharoah says he will not fight with you. He has given commandment to all his soldiers not to harm the king of Judah.  He says that your God, the God you call Jehovah, has told him not to fight with you.”

            Again Josiah paused, but Jehoahaz was right there with an answer.

            “Since when has God been speaking to heathen kings, father.  He’s just trying to trick you.  I wouldn’t trust him farther than I could throw an Egyptian chariot.”

            “Nor I,” agreed Josiah.  “Take him away.  And spread the word, we march for Megiddo in the morning.”

            Early the next day, even before the sun came up, the road from Mizpah to Megiddo was crowded with Jewish soldiers.  Some of them were excited, especially the men who had never been in battle.  Many were scared, but all of them were determined to fight for their king against the forces of Egypt.  They marched all day, determined to catch Pharoah by surprise if possible.  When they camped that night they were just over the ridge from the valley of Megiddo where there Egyptian army was encamped.  There were no campfires lit that night, the men just lay on the cold ground and waited for the morning.

            “What if he won’t fight me?” Josiah asked Jehoahaz as they discussed their battle plans that night.  “How can I lead my people into battle if the Egyptians  refuse to fight?”

            “I have an idea,” said the prince.  “They’ll expect you to ride into battle under the king’s banner, wearing the royal robes.  That’s the only way the Pharoah would even know who you are.  But if you go into battle disguised as a common soldier they’ll have to fight.  They wont’ know whether it is you or the Assyrians attacking.”

            Somehow that sounded almost cowardly to Josiah, but by this time it was too late to back down. “All right.  That’s what we will do.  We’ll leave all the flags here, and the banners.  I’ll borrow a regular uniform and we’ll hit them by surprise as soon as the sun comes up.”

            When the sky began to brighten the next morning, the Judean army sat poised on the hills above Megiddo ready to attack.  They surprised the Egyptians all right, but they were in for a surprise themselves.  The archers in the Egyptian army always slept with their bows and arrows beside them.  As the soldiers began to rush down the hill they were met by a barrage of arrows that nearly wiped out the first row of attack.  One of the first men hit by an arrow was the disguised King Josiah.

            Quickly his bodyguards picked up the wounded king and carried him back over the hill to where the royal chariot stood waiting.  Loading him into the chariot they took off posthaste in the direction of the capitol.  The army, left without leadership fell into a disorderly retreat, abandoning the attack and allowing the Egyptians to continue on their way to advance against the Assyrians.

            The trip back to Jerusalem was hard.  They hadn’t been able to remove the arrow and every time the chariot hit a bump the sharp point cut deeper into Josiah’s flesh.  He had lost a lot of blood and just as his chariot reached the gates of the beloved city, King Josiah took his last breath and collapsed on the floor.

            The word that the king had been wounded had already reached Jerusalem before them.  With the news of his death the people began immediately the days of mourning accorded to a king who had been greatly loved.  But even over the top of the crying came a call from the highest wall of the palace.  A herald blew the shophar and shouted at the top of his lungs.  “Jehoahaz reigns.  Long live King Jehoahaz.”

The  End