God told King Josiah that a mighty army from the north was going to come and destroy Jerusalem, but it wouldn’t happen until after Josiah died. The Lord was pleased with Josiah’s response to the Book of the Law so he saved King Josiah from that disaster.

As soon as the king heard what the Scriptures said, he believed them. The Book of the Law showed Josiah how greatly the Israelites had sinned and he knew they deserved whatever punishment the Lord sent them. He could have left his people to their fate, but instead he gathered them in front of the temple and read the Book of the Law to them. Then he led them back to the Lord.

“The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord – to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.” 2 Kings 23:3

Josiah Purges the Land of Idols

Back in 1 Kings 13 we read about a man of God from Judah who confronted King Jeroboam at Bethel after he built the golden calf. The prophet appeared as Jeroboam presented offerings on the altar he built.

“He cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord: ‘O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’ 1 Kings 13:2

The prophet made this prophecy 290 years before Josiah became king in Judah and King Josiah, descendant of King David, completely fulfilled the prophecy. He started purging Judah of idols at the temple where he ordered all of the altars and articles of worship devoted to false gods to be destroyed. He burned them in the Kidron Valley.

Josiah did away with idolatrous priests, Asherah poles, incense altars and the places where male prostitution was practiced around Jerusalem. He swept into the Valley of Hinom and desecrated the place where people sacrificed their children to Molech. He got rid of horses and chariots that had been dedicated to the sun god.

He tore down shrines King Solomon dedicated to Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Molech, and then he covered them with human bones, making the sites unclean and useless to God’s people.

The Prophecy is Fulfilled

Finally, Josiah went up to Bethel and demolished the golden calf altar King Jeroboam built. When he saw the tombs of false prophets in the hillside he had them opened and burned their bones on the altar to defile it. The only tomb Josiah left untouched was that of the man of God who had prophesied about him so long ago.

The man of God from Judah was a true prophet and his prophecies came to pass.

The Greatest Passover

Once the land was purged of idols, King Josiah called the people of Judah to Jerusalem to celebrate their first Passover in many years. He read about it in the Book of the Law, realized its great importance, and followed Moses’s instructions to the letter.

Josiah had to start from scratch because none of his contemporary priests and Levites had done this. They had to be organized and trained. Also, the people of Judah didn’t have Passover lambs to bring so Josiah had to provide those. His royal officials pitched in and provided sacrificial animals, too.

The day of the feast the priests and Levites worked without stopping until nightfall. They slaughtered and prepared the sacrifices, then cooked and distributed the meat for the Passover meal. The Festival of Unleavened Bread went on for seven days.

“The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the Prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem. This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.” 2 Chronicles 35:18-19

The same year that Josiah learned about the Law he obeyed it completely. He purged the land of idols and celebrated the greatest Passover ever.

Nahum Prophesies the End of Assyria

Nahum’s prophecies were for the nation of Assyria which was about to meet its demise under God’s wrath.

“The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath on his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.” Nahum 1:2-3

The Assyrian Empire was the first super power on earth, with the most sophisticated, disciplined, and technical warfare the world had seen until then. Their armies were coordinated forces that worked together so well that if one part fell the rest continued forward unfazed.

They were nearly unstoppable behind their huge shields with teams of skilled fighters taking turns using their weapons and reloading for the next onslaught. They built formidable war machines like huge iron chariots drawn by four horses that crushed through enemy lines, and tall siege towers with battering rams that scores of soldiers pushed into city walls, compromising and breaking them down.

The Assyrians used selective cruelty and extreme torture to terrify the nations and discourage their resistance. And they broke down organized opposition to their rule by deporting people to far-flung parts of their empire after they conquered them.

God’s Wrath Against Assyria

God’s message to Assyria is full of fiery wrath. Their plots against the nations were plots against him

“From you, Nineveh, has one come forth who plots evil against the Lord and devises wicked plans.” Nahum 1:11

The “one” God was thinking of was King Esarhaddon who had made Nineveh Assyria’s capitol. He was the most successful king of Assyria, having consolidated the empire at its peak. God hated that Assyria had torn people away from him by replacing their cultures and religion with its own.

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Although they have allies and are numerous, they will be destroyed and pass away. Although I have afflicted you, Judah, I will afflict you no more. Now I will break their yoke from your neck and tear your shackles away.” Nahum 1:12-13

God kept Assyria from invading Jerusalem, but they had defeated Israel in the north and they still planned to take Judah. They occupied the land in Judah and laid waste to it wherever they could.

“The Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.” Nahum 2:2

Assyria’s Nemesis Babylon

The Assyrians conquered Babylonia, but they were never able to completely control them. As the Assyrian Empire expanded it became harder and harder for them to put down resistance, and Babylonia eventually took advantage of the fact that the Assyrians were spread thin and attacked Nineveh.

The prophet Nahum foresaw all of this.

“Nineveh summons her picked troops, yet they stumble on their way . . . It is decreed that Nineveh be exiled and carried away . . . Nineveh is like a pool whose water is draining away . . . ‘I am against you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘I will burn up your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions.” Nahum 2:5-13

The Sin of Babylon

Mighty Nineveh — the great city that repented when Jonah preached to them more than two hundred years earlier — was going to fall to Babylon. And unlike the Assyrian lion that crushed and devoured nations, Babylon was a seductress that was going to lead the world into corrupt forms of worship that tempted people away from God. Nahum described Nineveh’s fall to Babylon this way:

“Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots! Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over corpses – all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.” Nahum 3:1-4

Babylon’s influence began with worship of Self at the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, and we will see it persist in the Bible all the way through Revelation.

When God told King Josiah that a mighty army from the north was going to destroy Jerusalem, Josiah might have assumed God meant Assyria, but the prophet Nahum knew better. Before Assyria could attack Jerusalem again, its empire was going to fall to Babylon.