THE PASSOVER OF THE KING

Matthew 26:29

I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. … He did what was right in the eyes of ADONAI and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

As King Josiah undertook the restoration of the Temple of Hashem, the Temple's secretary handed him a Torah scroll found in the Temple. The scroll was opened at Deuteronomy 28, the passage about the blessings and the curses. As Shaphan read the text to the King, the King tore his clothes (2 Kings 22:11). In Josiah's days, most people in Israel had forgotten the Torah. They practiced religious forms and traditions inherited from earlier generations and adopted from foreign nations. They did not fully realize that their worship of God was polluted with idolatrous practices. Josiah's mother had taught her son a healthy fear of Hashem, and the words of Torah worked in his heart.

The king wanted the land to repent, but instead of sending edicts and rebuke the people, the king made repentance something personal,

And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before ADONAI, to walk after ADONAI 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 23:3).

Josiah also undertook a series of religious reforms where he deposited the priests of Ba'al, overthrew the altars to the foreign gods, and went on an all-out campaign against idolatry. This campaign culminated to a renewing of the Passover observance like no other,

And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the Passover to ADONAI, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant." 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. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to ADONAI in Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:21—23).

A similar situation exists for believers in Yeshua today. They have not totally forgotten Torah, but because of erroneous theological assumptions they have declared it obsolete and mixed it with pagan religious elements. Like in the days of Josiah, today many are rediscovering the Torah of Moses and experiment religious reforms in their hearts. Sometimes all congregations go through these reforms.

These attempts at restoration are great but they are very fragmented and confusing due to a lack of leadership. We look a lot like, "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judg. 21:25). We desperately need the King to return and as Josiah lead us with a strong hand in this reformation. When he does, he will also lead us into the marriage supper of the Lamb and partake with us from the Seder cup which he omitted to drink when he celebrated an early Passover dinner with his disciples (Matt. 26:29; Rev. 19:9).

May it be soon Abba, even in our days!