2 Chronicles 33-35

What’s Happening?

Judah’s next king, Manasseh, takes the throne, but he is a proud man whose leadership dooms Judah to an inevitable exile. Manasseh rejects both God and his commands. Inside God’s temple he makes idols and sacrifices children to the god Baal, the goddess Asherah, and to the sun, moon, and stars. He replaces God’s priests with mediums and necromancers (2 Chronicles 33:1-9). In response, God sends the Assyrian army to drag Manasseh off his throne and imprison him in Babylon (2 Chronicles 33:10-11). But while in Babylon’s prison, Manasseh humbles himself and repents for all his pride and idolatry. Mercifully, God ends his exile and sends him back to his homeland. Restored to power, Manasseh tears down the shrines and idols he had built in Jerusalem and worships God until the day he dies and passes the throne to his son, Amon (2 Chronicles 33:12-20).

Amon should have learned the lesson of his father’s life—Judah will be exiled and their only hope is to throw themselves on God’s mercy. But he worships the Assyrian idols his father made and refuses to humble himself. After only two years in power, he’s assassinated and his eight-year-old son, Josiah, is made king (2 Chronicles 33:21-24).

Josiah humbly trusts God alone. He destroys every idol and shrine in Judah and Israel (2 Chronicles 34:1-7). He replaces mediums with God’s priests and commissions the restoration of God’s temple (2 Chronicles 34:8-13). Meanwhile, a long-lost copy of God’s law is discovered and read to Josiah. When Josiah hears it, he’s heartbroken. Despite his reforms, Judah has disobeyed all of God’s commands and cannot escape their coming exile (2 Chronicles 34:14-21). The prophetess Huldah confirms Josiah’s fears. While Josiah will personally be spared, Judah stands condemned (2 Chronicles 34:22-28). But even though exile is inevitable, Josiah rallies his citizens and calls all of Judah to recommit themselves to God and his laws (2 Chronicles 34:29-33).

To commemorate this rededication to God’s laws, Judah celebrates the Passover. It’s the defining feast of God’s people. It was after the first Passover that Israel became God’s kingdom and accepted his laws. With a copy of those laws in his hands, Josiah makes sure that every detail of the Passover is observed (2 Chronicles 35:1-17). Notably, Josiah’s Passover marked a moment of national humility and faithfulness not seen since Israel had a king (2 Chronicles 35:18). 

Tragically, Josiah’s final moments are marked by the pride of his forefathers. God told the king of Egypt to aid Assyria in battle, but Josiah rides into battle to stop the Egyptians from helping a nation he sees as a threat to Judah (2 Chronicles 35:20-22). Immediately, a stray arrow pierces his armor and Josiah dies for his pride (2 Chronicles 35:23-27).

Where is the Gospel?

Refusing to listen to God brings about inevitable exile and ultimately death. Even if our lives are like Josiah’s and marked by obedience, failure to listen to God will bring God’s judgment. But the story of Manasseh also shows us that even after God’s people have been faithless, and even while they are in exile, God is willing to forgive and to restore his people to their homeland.

In the book of Romans, death, like exile, is the inevitable consequence of failing to listen to God’s commands (Romans 3:10-18). And the apostle Paul makes the same point the Chronicler did, that no one is innocent, not even those who want to listen to God’s commands. But if, like Manasseh, we humble ourselves before God by repenting of our pride and idolatry, God will return us to his Kingdom ( James 4:10; 1 John 1:8-9). It’s not because we deserve it, just as Manasseh didn’t deserve it. But God does it because he loves his people. God loves his people so much he sent Jesus, to be the final King who can end our exile and bring us home to God. 

Every king of Israel ultimately failed to listen to God and act in perfect faithfulness. This led to personal and national exile and death. But Jesus was faithful and humble without fail. He perfectly threw himself on God’s mercy even when God told him to go into the exile of death (Philippians 2:8-9). Jesus is the perfect king who enters our exile and death, and brings us out of it. Jesus is the merciful God who enters the prison of our exile and brings us back to our home with him. 

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see the God who is merciful to his faithless people. And may you see Jesus as the one who humbly came into our exile to bring us to God.