The King, the Book, and the Covenant Text: 2 Kings 23:1-3
Introduction: When a Nation Forgets Its Charter
We live in a generation that has lost the book. I do not mean that we have misplaced our Bibles in the way that Josiah's generation had physically lost the Book of the Law in the temple. Our problem is far more insidious. We have Bibles everywhere, on our phones, on our shelves, collecting dust on our nightstands. We have not lost the book, but we have lost its authority. We have lost its centrality. We have lost its public voice. We have, in effect, stuffed it in a closet in the temple, hoping it does not interrupt our innovative worship services and our culturally sensitive programs.
The story of Josiah's reformation is therefore a story for our time. It is a bracing slap in the face to a sleepy, compromised church. Judah was in a desperate state. Decades of apostasy under Manasseh and Amon had left the nation spiritually desolate, riddled with idolatry and every form of pagan perversion. They were a covenant people who had forgotten their covenant. They were a nation founded on the Word of God who no longer knew what that Word said. They were, in short, very much like the modern West.
And then, during renovations of the temple, they find the book. And the discovery of this book, and the response to it, turns the nation upside down. What we see in these three verses is the essential blueprint for any true reformation. It is not a reformation of feelings, or of new techniques, or of marketing strategies. It is a reformation of the Word. It begins with leadership, is centered on the public proclamation of Scripture, and culminates in a corporate, binding covenant renewal before God. If we desire to see our land healed, our churches revived, and our families restored, we must pay very close attention to the pattern God sets before us in the actions of this godly king.
The Text
Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
And the king went up to the house of Yahweh and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of Yahweh.
Then the king stood by the pillar and cut a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to establish the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.
(2 Kings 23:1-3 LSB)
Covenantal Leadership (v. 1)
The first step in this national reformation is an act of leadership.
"Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem." (2 Kings 23:1)
Josiah's response to hearing the words of the law was not a private pity party. He tore his clothes in personal repentance, yes, but he did not stop there. He understood that the covenant was not just with him, but with the entire nation. And so, his first action is to summon the leadership. He gathers the elders. This is top-down reformation. God works through established lines of authority. Masculine, covenantal leadership is the glad assumption of sacrificial responsibility, and Josiah embodies this. He does not take a poll. He does not form a committee to gauge public opinion. He leads.
This is a direct rebuke to the modern evangelical obsession with a privatized, individualistic faith. We have been taught that religion is a personal matter, something between "me and Jesus." But the Bible knows nothing of this. Faith is personal, but it is never private. The covenant is corporate. Josiah knows that if the nation is to be turned back to God, its leaders must lead the way. He understands that the nation is a covenant entity, and he, as the king, is its federal head. He is responsible.
He gathers the elders because they represent the people. This is not a populist movement bubbling up from the grassroots; it is a king fulfilling his God-given duty to govern his people according to God's law. He is acting as a civil magistrate who understands his role is to be a minister of God for good (Romans 13:4). This is the beginning of all true societal change: when the men God has placed in authority take responsibility and act.
The Public Centrality of the Word (v. 2)
The second step shows us the instrument of that reformation.
"And the king went up to the house of Yahweh and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of Yahweh." (2 Kings 23:2)
Notice the setting: the house of Yahweh. True reformation drives a people back to true worship. And notice the audience: everyone. "All the men of Judah," "all the inhabitants," "priests and prophets," "all the people, both small and great." No one is excluded. The Word of God is for the scholar and the farmer, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak. The Word is not a secret text for a priestly elite; it is a public proclamation for the entire covenant community.
And what is the central act of this great assembly? It is not a concert. It is not an emotional appeal. It is not a skit. "He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant." The foundation of all true revival is the plain, public, authoritative reading of the Word of God. The power is in the Book. It is Scripture itself that does the work. God's Word is living and active, and it does not return void. Josiah's task is not to make the Bible relevant; his task is to unleash it. He reads "all the words." He doesn't skip the uncomfortable parts about the curses for disobedience, the parts that had convicted him so deeply. He gives them the whole counsel of God.
This is why the central act of Christian worship is and must always be the preaching of the Word of God. All our singing, praying, and fellowship must be anchored to this. When a church loses the centrality of the Word, it has lost its anchor and will inevitably drift into the rocks of heresy and apostasy. Reformation begins when God's people gather to hear God's Word read and explained, and they tremble before it.
Covenant Renewal and Corporate Vows (v. 3)
The third step is the binding response to the Word that was read.
"Then the king stood by the pillar and cut a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to establish the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant." (2 Kings 23:3)
The king stands "by the pillar," a place of royal authority, and he makes a public vow. But notice his posture. He is not standing over the law; he is standing under it. He binds himself first. This is the principle of Lex Rex, the Law is King. The king himself is subject to the law of God. He is not the source of law; he is its chief servant. This is the biblical foundation for limited government and the antithesis of all tyranny.
And look at the nature of his vow. It is comprehensive and total. It is "to walk after Yahweh," which is a relational term. And it is to "keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes," which is a legal term. True faith is both. It is a heart that loves God and a life that obeys His law. And it is to be done with "all his heart and all his soul." This is not a half-hearted resolution. It is a total consecration of his entire being to the task of obedience. He vows to "establish the words of this covenant," meaning to make them the foundation of the nation's life once more.
And the response of the people is crucial: "And all the people entered into the covenant." The Hebrew says they "stood to the covenant." They took their stand. Led by their king, they corporately re-affirmed their allegiance to Yahweh and His law. This was not coerced conformity. This was a national repentance, a corporate turning. They heard the Word, they saw their king bind himself to it, and they willingly joined him. This is how a nation is reformed. It is not by political maneuvering alone, but by a people, from the king down to the commoner, publicly binding themselves in covenant to obey the Word of God.
Our Better Josiah
The reformation under Josiah was the most thorough in Judah's history. He purged the land of idols with a zeal that was unmatched. And yet, it was not enough. The rot was too deep, and within a generation, the nation would be carried off into exile. Josiah could read the law, and he could lead the people in a vow to keep it, but he could not give them new hearts to love it. His reformation was glorious, but it was external and ultimately temporary.
This points us to our need for a better king, a greater Josiah. That king is the Lord Jesus Christ. Josiah found the Book of the Law; Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). Josiah read the words of the covenant; Jesus fulfilled every word of the covenant perfectly. Josiah led his people in renewing the covenant; Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant in His own blood.
Jesus did not just call us to obey the law with all our heart and soul; He obeyed it perfectly in our place, and then He died for our failure to do so. And through His Spirit, He does what Josiah could never do: He writes the law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). He gives us a new nature that desires to obey.
The pattern for us, then, is the same as it was for Judah, but with a far greater hope. We are called to hear the Word of the New Covenant, the Gospel. We are called to see our King, Jesus, who stood not by a pillar but on a cross, establishing the words of this covenant forever. And we are called, by faith, to "enter into" this covenant. When we do, we are not just pardoned; we are enlisted. We are brought into His covenant community, the Church, and we are commissioned to the same task as Josiah: to establish the words of His covenant, the Scriptures, in every realm of life, with all our heart and with all our soul, until our King returns and His kingdom has no end.