The Bible and Reformation
W. Carl Ketcherside
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One of my favorite Biblical characters is Josiah. Perhaps this is true because he triumphed over so many improbabilities. Let me mention just one to get us started. When Jereboam captured ten tribes from Solomon's son, during a re-
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It was 326 years later that Josiah was born. His father and grandfather were worse idolaters than Jereboam. Moreover, Josiah was a king in Judah, and Bethel was in another kingdom, Israel. Yet as a mere boy the king developed such a hatred of idolatry that he not only swept every vestige of it from his own land but was driven by his intense zeal to cross the line of the neighboring monarchy, where he broke down the altar at Bethel and actually crushed the stones of it into dust. He even invaded Samaria, the capital of Israel, and cleaned it out.
The grandfather of Josiah was Manasseh, whose name became proverbial for wickedness. He was a worshiper of the planets, and placed altars dedicated to all "the host of heaven" in the sacred precincts of God's temple. Finally he stooped to human sacrifice and burned his own son as an offering. In his superstitious blindness he "practiced soothsaying and augury, and dealt with mediums, and with wizards." Jewish tradition credits him with murdering the prophet Isaiah by sawing him asunder.
Manasseh was succeeded by his son Amon who carried on all of the vile practices of his father, but was assassinated at the end of two years by his palace guards. The coup was ineffective because the people of the land killed the conspirators and installed Josiah as king. When Josiah was coronated he was eight years old, the same age at which I accepted the awesome responsibilities of the second grade in school.
At the age of sixteen "while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father," and when he reached his twentieth birthday, he started a purge such as the land had never seen before. This was hazardous because it cut across the social, economic and political structures, all of which were geared to idolatry. Foreign trade and commerce were enhanced by recognition of other gods, and the import and export bureaus thrived because of the shrines which other nationals could visit in Jerusalem. Idolatry was favored by many men of rank and influence in the court and kingdom.
The young ruler soon learned that he could not entrust the work to members of his cabinet, some of whom would simply place the images in places of concealment until the furor died down. He resolved to personally supervise the work of the wrecking crews, and traveled from one place to another to see that the job was thoroughly done. I always marvel at the revelation of how corrupt Jerusalem had become, by reading what Josiah abolished.
He instructed the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers of the temple to bring out every vessel that had ever been used in reverence for Baal or any planet, and these he burned in the fields of Kidron. He fired every priest who had ever burned incense to Baal, or to the sun, moon, or any constellation. He smashed the houses and stalls of the cult prostitutes who solicited in the temple precincts. He tore down the high places in every city, village and hamlet, and forbade their priests to ever set foot in the temple at Jerusalem. He ran all of the motley horde of fortune-tellers, witches, soothsayers, wizards and necromancers, out of town.
He defiled Topheth, the grisly location of human sacrifice, in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, so no one could burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. He removed the sacred horses that had been dedicated to the sun, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. He pulled down the altars on the palace roof, broke them to pieces, ground the pieces into dust, and threw the dust into
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I suspect that I am a sufficient iconoclast at heart, that I get "a bang" out of this young king running around in overalls, swinging an axe or a sledge-hammer, and not being too careful what or who he hit. And I can imagine the dispossessed priests, prostitutes, witches and members of the teamster's union who drove the chariots of the sun, whispering to one another, "That crazy young fool will ruin this place if someone doesn't stop him!" And yet I confess, with some reluctance I admit, that all of this is not what actually endears Josiah to my heart.
When the king heard the words of the law he rent his clothes and instructed his advisers to go immediately and enquire of the Lord about the words of the book. He said, "Great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book."
The counsellors went to Huldah the prophetess who informed them that God had indeed decreed the destruction of Jerusalem and all of its inhabitants because of idolatry, but the penitent attitude of Josiah had averted the calamity during his lifetime. The king then summoned all of the people both great and small to meet him at the temple where he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant. "And the king stood in his place 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 with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book" (2 Chronicles 34:31).
I do not think there has ever been a religious reformation worth mentioning that did not result from rediscovery of the Word of God and its importance to life. John Wycliffe has been called "The Morning Star of the Reformation." He translated the Word into English and this sparked a great revival of interest which eventually led to many of the freedoms which we now enjoy. The historian, J. J. Blunt, describes what transpired as follows:
"An eager appetite for scriptural knowledge was excited among the people, which they would make any sacrifice and risk any danger to gratify. Entire copies of the Bible, when they could only be multiplied by means of amanuenses, were too costly to be within reach of very many readers; but those who could not procure 'the volume of the book' would give a load of hay for a few favorite chapters, and many such scraps were consumed upon the persons of the martyrs at the stake. They would hide the forbidden treasure under the floors of their houses, and put their lives in peril rather than forego the book they desired; they would sit up at night, sometimes all night long, their doors being shut for fear of surprise, reading or hearing others read the word of God; they would bury themselves in the woods, and there converse with it in solitude; they would tend their herds in the fields, and still steal an hour for drinking in the tidings of great joy."
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"Unless I am refuted and convinced by proofs from the Holy Scriptures, or by plain, lucid, and evident argument, I yield my faith neither to the pope nor to the councils alone, for it is clear as the day that they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. Until so convinced, I can and will retract nothing, for it is neither safe nor expedient to act against conscience. Here I stand, I can do nothing else; God help me! Amen."
The restoration movement of which I am fortunate enough to be an heir, although an unworthy one, began with the reading of "The Declaration and Address" by Thomas Campbell. Mr. Campbell said:
"We have no nostrum, no peculiar discovery of our own, to propose to fellow-Christians, for the fancied importance of which they should become followers of us. We propose to patronize nothing but the inculcation of the express Word of God, either as to matter of faith or practice; but every one that has a Bible, and can read it, can read this for himself. Therefore we have nothing new."
Whether concerned with the reformatory attempts of previous generations, or caught up in the ecumenical fervor of our own complex age, our appeal must be to the Bible as the word of God. I unhesitatingly take my stand with "the fellowship of the unashamed," the great company of believers which numbered among its ranks those martyrs who perished at the stake rather than recant their faith in the testimony of the sacred scriptures. If this means ridicule in an age of enlightenment I shall be content that "The reproaches of them which reproached thee have fallen upon me." The disciple is not above his master; the servant is not greater than his lord.
Renewal will only come through recovery of the dynamic of God. This will be my constant watchword, whether I speak in halls of learning or in homes of the humble. With faith that is childlike, but with the resolution of manhood, I commit my course to the revelation of God. It will be my inspiration in life, my invigoration in approaching age, and my illumination on the journey through the valley of shadows!
I have trimmed my sails to catch the winds of the Spirit, and if these will not drive my frail bark safely into the harbor of eternal rest and peace, I have nothing else upon which I can rely to bring me at last to that blest anchorage. He has spoken! My eyes have looked upon His words, and my heart throbs in exultation that He cares for me. The words of Israel's bard express my feelings:
"I shall keep thy law continually, for ever and ever, and I shall walk at liberty, for I have sought thy precepts. I will also speak of thy testimonies before kings, and shall not be put to shame, for I find my delight in thy commandments which I love" (Psalm 119:44-47).
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