How to love and serve God well

One of the deeply searching questions of the Bible is uttered in the Book of Job when the satan sarcastically inquires if Job serves God for nothing (Job 1:9).[1] Given that Job is blessed with a good life, why should he not worship God when he gets so much out of it? The insinuation is that he only serves the Lord for the benefits of the relationship. Take them away and he will curse God (Job 1:11)! Everyone, of course, desires relationships where they are loved unselfishly for who they are rather than used for advantages. Traditional marriage vows (‘for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health…’) express this same idea. However, all of us have mixed motives and it is only when the benefits, even if partially, are stripped away that our heart is revealed. The question is, why do we serve God?

Renewal of the covenant

It is part of Josiah’s greatness that when he hears the judgment affirmed and the promise that it will not come in his lifetime (2 Kings 22:16-20), he does not sit back like his great-grandfather, Hezekiah, and think, ‘oh, good, not in my lifetime then!’ (2 Kings 20:19). Rather, he makes every effort in his commitment to the Lord even though God has determined judgment (2 Kings 22:16-17). What this indicates is that he truly believes in the rightness of renewal irrespective of the difficulties and suffering ahead. Serving God matters. Thus, his first act is to gather everyone to make a covenant with God and to have the book found in the temple read publicly (2 Kings 23:2-3). Thus, the terms of such a commitment are made clear to all, so people know what they are signing up for.[2]

The two sides of commitment

Josiah’s actions that follow reveal the two sides of his commitment. Negatively, he gets rid of everything that spoils or hinders the relationship with God. The list is tedious, but it highlights how deeply idolatry has permeated Judah’s life. From the storm god (Baal), ostensibly bringing rain on crops, to the fertility goddess (Asherah), the stars and the sun, the people cover their bases to ensure a flourishing life, even using human sacrifices at times (2 Kings 23:4, 10, 11). There are altars in the royal palace, the Jerusalem temple and its courts, on the surrounding hills (2 Kings 23:12-13) as well as all over Judah from north (Geba) to south (Beersheba; 2 Kings 23:8). Josiah has the pagan shrines and altars destroyed and the places permanently defiled using the ashes of human remains and bones (2 Kings 23:14, 16), which are seen as impure. There is no going back to false worship. Idolatrous priests in Judah and in the former northern kingdom are done away with and executed (2 Kings 23:5, 20) and those Levitical priests who worship the Lord in shrines other than Jerusalem are barred from serving in the Temple though they are provided for (2 Kings 23:9).[3] Josiah’s positive action includes celebrating the Passover (2 Kings 23:21-23), a reminder of God’s saving act, which clearly spurs him on to serve God with all his heart, soul and strength, just as Deuteronomy requires (2 Kings 23:25; Deut 6:5).

Love and commitment

Josiah has much to teach us on taking the demands of discipleship seriously. Like Jesus’ warning of would-be followers to count the cost before committing to Him (Luke 14:27-30), Josiah makes sure the people understand what is required of them. So often today, evangelism is limited to the good news of inviting people into the salvation God offers. Getting people through the door is what matters, discipleship is seen as an optional extra. In God’s economy, however, a true relationship with the Lord involves wholehearted devotion to Him, not just the taking of goodies. Such devotion has practical implications of putting our trust in Him, not in the kind of things that promise fulfilment through alternative means. Josiah’s actions also teach us how essential it is to be uncompromising in this. Finally, important as it is to close and bar the back door to temptation, it is as vital to remember the amazing salvation the Lord has achieved for us. We love Him because He loved us first.

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[1] Although most translations use ‘Satan’ here as a personal name, the Hebrew has ‘the satan’, which means adversary or prosecuting attorney, rather than indicating personal evil, as we understand it.

[2] We do not know what such a covenant ceremony entailed. The one made at Sinai involved Moses recounting God’s law to the people and a verbal agreement by them to keep it, which was sealed by the blood of sacrifices sprinkled on the altar and on the people, thereby ratifying the covenant (Exod 24:3-8). The post-exilic covenant renewal in Nehemiah’s time included a document with the names of the leaders as well as the obligations that they committed to in written form (Neh 9:38; 10:1-39).

[3] The Hebrew translated as ‘did away with’ means ‘to cause to cease or stop’ in 2 Kings 23:5. Since idolatry was a capital offence (Deut 13:1-11), these idolatrous priests were probably executed just as the priests of pagan shrines in the north were (2 Kings 23:20). The priests who were gathered from the local shrines of Judah in 2 Kings 23:8 are likely those who worshipped the Lord, just not in Jerusalem. Since it was easy to incorporate wrong practices away from the Jerusalem Temple, they were not allowed to serve in the Temple. Much of the priests’ livelihood came from being given a part of the offerings (grain and meat) for their service, so these non-serving priests had no means for living and needed provisions to survive (compare the similar provision made for priests with a physical defect who were not allowed to serve in the Temple; Lev 21:21-23).

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