Josiah's Story

 

Josiah’s Story, a Prophecy for our Day?

D.P Weary - May 17, 2024

 

The scriptures dealing with Josiah:

[2Ki 22:1 ESV] Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

[2Ki 22:2 ESV] And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Though Josiah came from an unrighteous heritage, he walked in the righteous way of ways of King David. “This was true of Josiah at this young age; but it is really more intended as a general description of his reign rather than a description of him at eight years of age.” (Guzik)

[2Ki 22:10 ESV] Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king.

[2Ki 22:11 ESV] When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes.

The Book of the Law, the Torah, was read to Josiah and it broke his heart.

[2Ki 22:12 ESV] And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,

[2Ki 22:13 ESV] "Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."

[2Ki 22:14 ESV] So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her.

[2Ki 22:15 ESV] And she said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who sent you to me,

[2Ki 22:16 ESV] Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read.

[2Ki 22:17 ESV] Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.

It was a prophetess who confirmed that because Israel had forsaken God and made offerings to other gods, God was provoked to anger, and His wrath was kindled against Israel and it would not be quenched.

[2Ki 22:18 ESV] But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard,

[2Ki 22:19 ESV] because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD.

[2Ki 22:20 ESV] Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.'" And they brought back word to the king.

But, because Josiah was penitent and he humbled himself before the LORD, the LORD declared that He would not bring the disaster upon Israel until after Josiah died.

 

The presupposition we are going to make in this study is that Josiah’s story is a foreshadowing or pattern of future events. Events not only applicable to modern-day Israel but to the United States as well. This then would presume that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are types of Josiah. In this light let’s rewrite my comments from the verses in 2 Kings 22.

Though Trump and Netanyahu came from unrighteous heritages, they walked in the ways of King David (as a general description of their time in power). At some point both came to realize that Israel’s and the US’s disobedience and rebellion against God was going to bring the wrath of the LORD upon their countries.

Bible-believing witnesses and prophets confirmed that because their nations had forsaken God and made offerings to other gods, God was provoked to anger, His wrath was kindled against their nations, and it would not be quenched. But, because Trump and Netanyahu and the Bible believing remanent in their nations were penitent and he humbled themselves before the LORD and prayed, the LORD declares that He will not bring disaster upon their nations until after they die or possibly just removed from power (or taken in the rapture).

 

 

[2Ki 23:1 ESV] Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him.

[2Ki 23:2 ESV] And the king went up to the house of the LORD, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.

[2Ki 23:3 ESV] And the king stood by the 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 his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

[2Ki 23:4 ESV] And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.

[2Ki 23:5 ESV] And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens.

[2Ki 23:6 ESV] And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people.

[2Ki 23:7 ESV] And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.

[2Ki 23:8 ESV] And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city.

[2Ki 23:9 ESV] However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

[2Ki 23:10 ESV] And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech.

[2Ki 23:11 ESV] And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

[2Ki 23:12 ESV] And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.

[2Ki 23:13 ESV] And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

[2Ki 23:14 ESV] And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.

[2Ki 23:15 ESV] Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah.

[2Ki 23:16 ESV] And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things.

[2Ki 23:17 ESV] Then he said, "What is that monument that I see?" And the men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel."

[2Ki 23:18 ESV] And he said, "Let him be; let no man move his bones." So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.

[2Ki 23:19 ESV] And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel.

[2Ki 23:20 ESV] And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

[2Ki 23:21 ESV] And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant."

[2Ki 23:22 ESV] For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah.

[2Ki 23:23 ESV] But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.

[2Ki 23:24 ESV] Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

[2Ki 23:25 ESV] Before him there was no king like him, who 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, nor did any like him arise after him.

[2Ki 23:26 ESV] Still the LORD did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.

[2Ki 23:27 ESV] And the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there."

[2Ki 23:28 ESV] Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

[2Ki 23:29 ESV] In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him.

[2Ki 23:30 ESV] And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.

In these verses, Josiah is destroying the idols in the land, those who worshipped them, cults, and sexual perverseness. He also commanded the people to keep the Passover. The Word declares that Josiah was unique and that no one like him would arise after him.

Still the LORD declares that He will not turn from His wrath against Israel because of all the provocations with which they had provoked Him.

Josiah’s end came in Megiddo when the king Egypt went up to the king of Assyria at the river Euphrates and Josiah went to meet him.

 

Rewriting these comments for our day:

Trump and Netanyahu are unique men. Both are working to “drain the swamp” and clean their nations from evil in many forms. Both have had meetings with established and proven Christians. Both find themselves in serious conflicts/battles, both spiritual and natural. Like old Israel both America and Israel have as nations rebelled against God and though God may restrain His judgment it will surely come at some point. Like Josiah, it may be that God will withhold His righteous wrath during Trump’s and Netanyahu’s lifetimes or their removal from power in some fashion. But in the end God’s righteousness demands judgment.

The reinstitution of the Passover is probably a good hint for us today to pay attention to the prophetic content of the Feast of the Lord.

We note that Josiah’s death came at the hands of his enemies involving Egypt, “Assyria” and the river Euphrates (Syria, Iraq, and Iran today). Given the current political situation and battles in the Middle East, the end of Trump’s and Netanyahu’s reign or power will involve these situations and battles.

 

2 Chronicles 34 and 35 represents the information from 2 Kings. It is interesting to note that Josiah went out to fight in the plain of Megiddo where he was wounded unto death. As events foreshowing events in our day, the players are Egypt, and the nations that once were Assyria/Babylon (the old Macedonian Empires). The focus of the battles will be in “the plain of Megiddo” and “by the River Euphrates.” Again, basically the nations of the old Macedonian empires. We are beginning to see that these scriptures, while dealing with Israel in the days of King Josiah and the following days of captivity in Babylon, could be prophecies of how God deals with His nations and people in the “last days.”

 

From the prophet Jerimiah:

[Jer 1:1 NKJV] The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who [were] in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,

[Jer 1:2 NKJV] to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

[Jer 1:3 NKJV] It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

We are now dealing the years and events that followed Josiah’s death. The promised judgment against Israel came in the form of the Babylonian captivity.

[Jer 3:2 NKJV] "Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain [with men]? By the road you have sat for them Like an Arabian in the wilderness; And you have polluted the land With your harlotries and your wickedness.

The harlotries and wickedness included sexual perversions and homosexuality.

[Jer 3:3 NKJV] Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot's forehead; You refuse to be ashamed.

There was natural phenomenon (natural disasters) that were warnings of the coming judgment. There were also plagues, wars, and political and social unrest.

[Jer 3:4 NKJV] Will you not from this time cry to Me, 'My Father, You [are] the guide of my youth?

[Jer 3:5 NKJV] Will He remain angry forever? Will He keep it to the end?' Behold, you have spoken and done evil things, As you were able."

[Jer 3:6 NKJV] The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: "Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.

            [Jer 3:7 NKJV] "And I said, after she had done all these [things], 'Return to Me.' But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

[Jer 3:8 NKJV] "Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.

[Jer 3:9 NKJV] "So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

God is reminding Judah about what happened in the past to northern tribes of Israel when they sinned and did not repent. The LORD divorced her and sent them into captivity in Assyria.

[Jer 3:10 NKJV] "And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense," says the LORD.

[Jer 3:11 NKJV] Then the LORD said to me, "Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

[Jer 3:12 NKJV] "Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: 'Return, backsliding Israel,' says the LORD; 'I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I [am] merciful,' says the LORD; 'I will not remain angry forever.

[Jer 3:13 NKJV] Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God, And have scattered your charms To alien deities under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,' says the LORD.

[Jer 3:14 NKJV] "Return, O backsliding children," says the LORD; "for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

[Jer 3:15 NKJV] "And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

The LORD promises to one day regather Israel and bring them back to Zion (the land of Israel).

[Jer 3:16 NKJV] "Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days," says the LORD, "that they will say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit [it], nor shall it be made anymore.

At the time of the restoration, the “ark of the covenant of the LORD” symbolizing God presence will be replaced by the Lord Himself.

[Jer 3:17 NKJV] "At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.

[Jer 3:18 NKJV] "In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.

Here we see the connection between the days of Josiah and the days when the Lord Jesus returns to the Earth as King of kings; the last days or the second coming of Christ Jesus. In our day the Jews are being regathered to the land of Israel. There is no longer a distinction between Judah and Israel. And, in 1948, the nation of Israel was “born again.” The Throne of the LORD will be establish in Jerusalem and the land area of Israel will be what was given by God to Abraham.

[Jer 3:19 NKJV] "But I said: 'How can I put you among the children And give you a pleasant land, A beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?' "And I said: 'You shall call Me, "My Father," And not turn away from Me.'

[Jer 3:20 NKJV] Surely, [as] a wife treacherously departs from her husband, So have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel," says the LORD.

[Jer 3:21 NKJV] A voice was heard on the desolate heights, Weeping [and] supplications of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way; They have forgotten the LORD their God.

[Jer 3:22 NKJV] "Return, you backsliding children, [And] I will heal your backslidings." "Indeed we do come to You, For You are the LORD our God.

[Jer 3:23 NKJV] Truly, in vain [is salvation hoped for] from the hills, [And from] the multitude of mountains; Truly, in the LORD our God [Is] the salvation of Israel.

[Jer 3:24 NKJV] For shame has devoured The labor of our fathers from our youth--Their flocks and their herds, Their sons and their daughters.

[Jer 3:25 NKJV] We lie down in our shame, And our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, We and our fathers, From our youth even to this day, And have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."

For the remnant of the houses of Israel and Judah, there will be a day of confession, repentance, and declaration the Jesus is indeed the Son of God and the Messiah. This will be the day Jesus returns to Israel at His second coming.

[Jer 25:1 NKJV] The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which [was] the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

[Jer 25:2 NKJV] which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

[Jer 25:3 NKJV] "From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this [is] the twenty-third year in which the word of the LORD has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened.

[Jer 25:4 NKJV] "And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending [them], but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.

[Jer 25:5 NKJV] "They said, 'Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.

[Jer 25:6 NKJV] 'Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.'

[Jer 25:7 NKJV] "Yet you have not listened to Me," says the LORD, "that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

[Jer 25:8 NKJV] "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Because you have not heard My words,

[Jer 25:9 NKJV] 'behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' says the LORD, 'and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

[Jer 25:10 NKJV] 'Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

[Jer 25:11 NKJV] 'And this whole land shall be a desolation [and] an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

We are now dealing with the days of Judah’s captivity in Babylon. Note that Jeremiah’s prophetic warning to Israel lasted ten years.

[Jer 25:12 NKJV] 'Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, [that] I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,' says the LORD; 'and I will make it a perpetual desolation.

And as prophesied Babylon was defeated by the Medes and Persians.

[Jer 25:13 NKJV] 'So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.

[Jer 25:14 NKJV] '(For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)' "

[Jer 25:15 NKJV] For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me: "Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.

[Jer 25:16 NKJV] "And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them."

[Jer 25:17 NKJV] Then I took the cup from the LORD's hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me:

[Jer 25:18 NKJV] Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as [it is] this day;

[Jer 25:19 NKJV] Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people;

[Jer 25:20 NKJV] all the mixed multitude, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);

[Jer 25:21 NKJV] Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon;

[Jer 25:22 NKJV] all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which [are] across the sea;

[Jer 25:23 NKJV] Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all [who are] in the farthest corners;

[Jer 25:24 NKJV] all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert;

[Jer 25:25 NKJV] all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

[Jer 25:26 NKJV] all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which [are] on the face of the earth. Also the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

These verses tell us that in its final fulfillment, the judgment will involve not only the nations that surround Israel, by also “all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth.

[Jer 25:27 NKJV] "Therefore you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you." '

[Jer 25:28 NKJV] "And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "You shall certainly drink!

[Jer 25:29 NKJV] "For behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth," says the LORD of hosts.'

This final judgment will begin in Jerusalem.

[Jer 25:30 NKJV] "Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: 'The LORD will roar from on high, And utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread [the grapes], Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

[Jer 25:31 NKJV] A noise will come to the ends of the earth--For the LORD has a controversy with the nations; He will plead His case with all flesh. He will give those [who are] wicked to the sword,' says the LORD."

[Jer 25:32 NKJV] Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Behold, disaster shall go forth From nation to nation, And a great whirlwind shall be raised up From the farthest parts of the earth.

[Jer 25:33 NKJV] "And at that day the slain of the LORD shall be from [one] end of the earth even to the [other] end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.

In these verses the judgments and wrath of God is clearly seen to be expanded from the nations surrounding the land of Israel to the nations of all the Earth.

[Jer 25:34 NKJV] "Wail, shepherds, and cry! Roll about [in the ashes], You leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled; You shall fall like a precious vessel.

[Jer 25:35 NKJV] And the shepherds will have no way to flee, Nor the leaders of the flock to escape.

[Jer 25:36 NKJV] A voice of the cry of the shepherds, And a wailing of the leaders to the flock [will be heard]. For the LORD has plundered their pasture,

[Jer 25:37 NKJV] And the peaceful dwellings are cut down Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

[Jer 25:38 NKJV] He has left His lair like the lion; For their land is desolate Because of the fierceness of the Oppressor, And because of His fierce anger."

The wrath of God has fallen on the earth.

[Jer 46:1 NKJV] The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations.

[Jer 46:2 NKJV] Against Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

[Jer 46:3 NKJV] "Order the buckler and shield, And draw near to battle!

[Jer 46:4 NKJV] Harness the horses, And mount up, you horsemen! Stand forth with [your] helmets, Polish the spears, Put on the armor!

[Jer 46:5 NKJV] Why have I seen them dismayed [and] turned back? Their mighty ones are beaten down; They have speedily fled, And did not look back, [For] fear [was] all around," says the LORD.

[Jer 46:6 NKJV] "Do not let the swift flee away, Nor the mighty man escape; They will stumble and fall Toward the north, by the River Euphrates.

[Jer 46:7 NKJV] "Who [is] this coming up like a flood, Whose waters move like the rivers?

[Jer 46:8 NKJV] Egypt rises up like a flood, And [its] waters move like the rivers; And he says, 'I will go up [and] cover the earth, I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.'

[Jer 46:9 NKJV] Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: The Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, And the Lydians who handle [and] bend the bow.

Note the nations primarily involved; Egypt, the nations of the north “by the River Euphrates,” the Ethiopians, the Libyans, and the Lydians. These are the same nation involved in the Ezekiel 38 prophecy.

[Jer 46:10 NKJV] For this [is] the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, A day of vengeance, That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; For the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice In the north country by the River Euphrates.

The place of all of this is “the north country by the River Euphrates.” This essentially is the area of the nations just north of Israel today.

[Jer 46:11 NKJV] "Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; In vain you will use many medicines; You shall not be cured.

[Jer 46:12 NKJV] The nations have heard of your shame, And your cry has filled the land; For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty; They both have fallen together."

[Jer 46:13 NKJV] The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come [and] strike the land of Egypt.

[Jer 46:14 NKJV] "Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; Proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes; Say, 'Stand fast and prepare yourselves, For the sword devours all around you.'

[Jer 46:15 NKJV] Why are your valiant [men] swept away? They did not stand Because the LORD drove them away.

[Jer 46:16 NKJV] He made many fall; Yes, one fell upon another. And they said, 'Arise! Let us go back to our own people And to the land of our nativity From the oppressing sword.'

[Jer 46:17 NKJV] They cried there, 'Pharaoh, king of Egypt, [is but] a noise. He has passed by the appointed time!'

[Jer 46:18 NKJV] "[As] I live," says the King, Whose name [is] the LORD of hosts, "Surely as Tabor [is] among the mountains And as Carmel by the sea, [so] he shall come.

[Jer 46:19 NKJV] O you daughter dwelling in Egypt, Prepare yourself to go into captivity! For Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant.

[Jer 46:20 NKJV] "Egypt [is] a very pretty heifer, [But] destruction comes, it comes from the north.

[Jer 46:21 NKJV] Also her mercenaries are in her midst like fat bulls, For they also are turned back, They have fled away together. They did not stand, For the day of their calamity had come upon them, The time of their punishment.

[Jer 46:22 NKJV] Her noise shall go like a serpent, For they shall march with an army And come against her with axes, Like those who chop wood.

[Jer 46:23 NKJV] "They shall cut down her forest," says the LORD, "Though it cannot be searched, Because they [are] innumerable, And more numerous than grasshoppers.

[Jer 46:24 NKJV] The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed; She shall be delivered into the hand Of the people of the north."

[Jer 46:25 NKJV] The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Behold, I will bring punishment on Amon of No, and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings--Pharaoh and those who trust in him.

[Jer 46:26 NKJV] "And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants. Afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old," says the LORD.

[Jer 46:27 NKJV] "But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, And do not be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from afar, And your offspring from the land of their captivity; Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease; No one shall make [him] afraid.

[Jer 46:28 NKJV] Do not fear, O Jacob My servant," says the LORD, "For I [am] with you; For I will make a complete end of all the nations To which I have driven you, But I will not make a complete end of you. I will rightly correct you, For I will not leave you wholly unpunished."

These verses deal with the events and battles between Egypt and Babylon in Josiah’s day. But it is becoming obvious that those days were just foreshadowing’s of a much bigger conflicts coming later in the same general area.

This day is called “the day of the Lord.” a day of vengeance and the scene of action is once again “by the River Euphrates,” in general the Middle East. All of this is most probably dealing with the prophecies of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 38. There are also hints that during the day of the Lord there will be clashed between “the daughter of Egypt” (modern day Egypt) and the nations that now make up what would by the ancient lands of Babylon. These lands include the nations between Turkey to Pakistan today.

[Zep 1:1 NKJV] The word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

[Zep 1:2 NKJV] "I will utterly consume everything From the face of the land," Says the LORD;

[Zep 1:3 NKJV] "I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, The fish of the sea, And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land," Says the LORD.

[Zep 1:4 NKJV] "I will stretch out My hand against Judah, And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place, The names of the idolatrous priests with the [pagan] priests--

[Zep 1:5 NKJV] Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops; Those who worship and swear [oaths] by the LORD, But who [also] swear by Milcom;

[Zep 1:6 NKJV] Those who have turned back from [following] the LORD, And have not sought the LORD, nor inquired of Him."

[Zep 1:7 NKJV] Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD; For the day of the LORD [is] at hand, For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests.

[Zep 1:8 NKJV] "And it shall be, In the day of the LORD's sacrifice, That I will punish the princes and the king's children, And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.

[Zep 1:9 NKJV] In the same day I will punish All those who leap over the threshold, Who fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.

[Zep 1:10 NKJV] "And there shall be on that day," says the LORD, "The sound of a mournful cry from the Fish Gate, A wailing from the Second Quarter, And a loud crashing from the hills.

[Zep 1:11 NKJV] Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh! For all the merchant people are cut down; All those who handle money are cut off.

[Zep 1:12 NKJV] "And it shall come to pass at that time [That] I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And punish the men Who are settled in complacency, Who say in their heart, 'The LORD will not do good, Nor will He do evil.'

[Zep 1:13 NKJV] Therefore their goods shall become booty, And their houses a desolation; They shall build houses, but not inhabit [them]; They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine."

[Zep 1:14 NKJV] The great day of the LORD [is] near; [It is] near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out.

[Zep 1:15 NKJV] That day [is] a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness,

[Zep 1:16 NKJV] A day of trumpet and alarm Against the fortified cities And against the high towers.

[Zep 1:17 NKJV] "I will bring distress upon men, And they shall walk like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD; Their blood shall be poured out like dust, And their flesh like refuse."

[Zep 1:18 NKJV] Neither their silver nor their gold Shall be able to deliver them In the day of the LORD's wrath; But the whole land shall be devoured By the fire of His jealousy, For He will make speedy riddance Of all those who dwell in the land.

Here the days of Josiah are directly linked to the days of the second coming; the great day of the LORD. These are days of God’s wrath. They are days of judgment of God’s enemies and days of testing for Israel.

So now let’s go back and take an overview look at the story or pattern revealed by the story of Josiah. It starts with a nation in rebellion against God filled with wickedness, the worship of idols, and in general just great evil especially at all levels of leadership and in all areas of the society. When the Word of God is presented to a new king, he is convicted of its truth and sees a coming great judgment from God against his nation. The king confesses this, repents, and begins the process of cleansing his land from the wickedness, and evil. The king is convicted of the truth, the sin in his nation, the lack of righteous, and the eventual judgment of his nation for the sin, he confesses the truth, and begins to cleans his nation by destroying the idols that the people have be worshipping, Because of this God promises to withhold His judgment against the nation until after the king dies. But God also says that the judgment for the turning away in rebellion against God, and their worship of idols, especially Molech to whom they sacrificed their own children, will eventually come. After a period of restoration, the wickedness and evil returned to the nation during the king’s reign. True to His word, in the generation after the king, a great judgment comes.

Applying this pattern to our day, before 2016 both America and Israel were in a state of rebellion against the One True God. There was wickedness and evil in the land especially at high levels of government and other areas of society, and the evil of sacrificing children in abortion was rampaging. Then came the elections of Trump and Netanyahu to the highest offices in their nation. Both were witness to by trustworthy Christian believers. Both began a process of “draining the Swamp;” removing evil people from high places of authority, fighting abortion, and fighting human trafficking and pedophilia. But after a period of some success, trouble once again came to both nations. Currently rebellion, wickedness, evil, and trouble (war for Israel) are the current state of both nations.

If the pattern of Josiah holds, This state of affairs will continue until Trump and Netanyahu are taken out of the way. This could be by death, by just being removed from positions of authority and power, or by the rapture. Then would come the judgment from God; the wrath of God. The days of the wrath of God are well document in the book of Revelation.

All of this is associated with Revelation 6f, the war, death, the martyrs, the great earthquake, and through 7 years of tribulation, testing, and judgment. These events also lead us to Daniel 9-12, and Ezekiel 38f. Integrating these prophecies with Josiah’s story gives us a very good picture of the last days; the Day of the Lord. Many students of the Bible believe that these days are upon us. True to these prophecies, the story ends with the return of Lord Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords.

[Rev 22:20 NKJV] He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!