Why Josiah shares so many similarities with Hezekiah

by Damien F. Mackey King Josiah of Judah appears so similar to King Hezekiah of Judah because King Josiah was King Hezekiah. Reading through Keith Lannon’s July 22nd article: https://thelonghaulwithisaiah.wordpress.com/2023/07/22/173-hezekiah-and-josiah-similarities-differences/ 172. Thoughts on Hezekiah and his similarities with Josiah and appreciating the author’s recognition of likenesses between Hezekiah and Josiah - as many commentators, indeed, have perceived - yet further confirmed me in my view (not that I actually needed it) that Josiah was Hezekiah. This radical new view affecting the historical sequence of the Kings of Judah, which must necessarily involve, as well, kings reigning before and after Hezekiah/Josiah, I have tried to spell out in various articles, perhaps the most comprehensive of these being the following one of a specially personal nature: Damien F. Mackey’s A Tale of Two Theses (3) Damien F. Mackey's A Tale of Two Theses | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Such a far-reaching revision must also involve correcting Assyro-Babylonian history, and Egypt-Ethiopia, tasks that I have undertaken in articles such as: De-coding Jonah (3) De-coding Jonah | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu and: The Complete Ramses II (3) The Complete Ramses II | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu With all of this I mind, I shall now proceed to add whatever comments I consider necessary to what Keith Lannon has written: Hezekiah and Josiah were two of the greatest Hebrew kings on the Davidic tree. As Hezekiah was Josiah’s Great Grandfather, they never met. It may seem logical to suggest that Josiah would have been brought up being taught of the legendary Godliness of great Grandad “Hezzy”, however, it has to be added that Josiah’s father – and especially his grandfather were godless idolaters. My comment: Hezekiah, Josiah, only the one person, certainly ‘met’. Hezekiah’s ancestors were thus the same as Josiah’s ancestors. Keith Lannon continues: Josiah’s family nights around the warm, brazier recounting stories of their ancestors would have had Granddad Manasseh doing all he could to deride his own father Hezekiah’s devout lifestyle. Manasseh was a malevolent wizard of genuine black magic and evil – even though the term “black magic” is never used in scripture – but sacrificing one’s son to some evilly conceived demonic “deity” has to be as deep and dark as it is possible to achieve. The scripture tells us, “Manasseh also sacrificed his own son in the fire. He practiced sorcery and divination, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. He did much that was evil in the Lord’s sight, arousing his anger. Manasseh even made a carved image of Asherah and set it up in the Temple.” (2 Kings 21:6-7a) How’s that for conjoined criminality and devil worship? So Godly Josiah succeeded the ultra-bad Manasseh. My comment: Manasseh was all that. But he followed, not preceded, Josiah. Keith Lannon continues: According to a brief postscript to Manasseh’s narrative, Manasseh was brought in chains to the Assyrian king (nobody is sure whether it was Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal) which, by historical deduction could have been for non-payment of tribute, or as some trivial rumour of disloyalty – such was life living under such cruel dictatorships. My comment: It was Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, who were one and the same. Keith Lannon continues: The text in chronicles goes on to inform the reader that he was later treated well and restored to his throne. It seems that the severity of Manasseh’s Assyrian imprisonment brought him to repentance towards Yahweh. Manasseh was, however, restored to the throne, and abandoned idolatry, and even started removing foreign idols and exhorting the people to worship Yahweh. Neither Kings nor Assyrian records mention this end-of-life phenomenon – only the verses in 2 Chronicles 33:11-15. My comment: Manasseh, whose long life (reign) was, I think, largely counted in Captivity, was the same as Jehoiakim (and probably also Zedekiah, as I have more lately been thinking). Keith Lannon continues: Both negative and positive influences on the outlook and philosophy of heirs to the Davidic throne while they were young must have been viciously partisan. But I highlight this account while meditating on Hezekiah’s zeal for pure Yahwehism. Just as Samuel emerged as one of the Godliest men in scripture while being nurtured amid Eli’s godless sons, so did Hezekiah emerge strong in God despite evil father Amon, and evil grandfather Manasseh. My comment: Amon, who was Haman of the Book of Esther, was, I am now thinking, a son of Josiah’s. He was also Jehoahaz, whose Egyptian name, Amon, arose from his period of captivity in Egypt, under Pharaoh Necho. Keith Lannon continues: It is generally accepted that Hezekiah died circa 687 BC, and Josiah succeeded to the Davidic throne 640 BC, circa 50 years later. The clean clear convictions and practices of Josiah were birthed despite the spiritual sewage produced in the reigns of Manasseh and Amon. As a by the way, Josiah’s father only reigned 2 years and was murdered by his own courtiers, who were themselves then all murdered by the people of Judah. Ah! Gentle days of the closing seventh century in Judah. My comment: This, I now believe to be quite the wrong sequence. Josiah, as Hezekiah, did not reign “circa 50 years later”. Keith Lannon continues: Hezekiah had been King of Judah for 4 only years when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria started besieging Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, i.e., not in Hezekiah’s realm. As far as we know Hezekiah did absolutely zilch to aid Hoshea, king of Israel in his existential struggle against Assyria. Three years later Samaria crumbled. That brings us to an iconic date in Hebrew history -722 B.C. The vast majority of the population of the northern kingdom was infamously dragged away to nations and locations generally unknown (though variably guessed at by all and sundry, leaving us with the ever-unresolved mystery of “the ten lost tribes”). My comment: Jeremiah’s ‘northern foe’ (Jeremiah 6:22-26), which was King Josiah’s foe, was the same as King Hezekiah’s Assyrian foe - Sennacherib. Keith Lannon continues: All that we know of Hezekiah’s life is described in 2 Kings, chapters 18-20. He became king of Judah at the age of twenty-five and reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years. A faithful worshipper of the true God, Hezekiah reopened the Temple of Solomon (2 Chronicles 20:3) and reigned in control throughout an amazingly traumatic period of Hebrew history. According to the Book of Kings, King Hezekiah instituted a deep furroughing reform that rid Judah and population-less Israel of anything that looked, smelt, or hinted at idolatry. He even went so far as to destroy “the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for up to those days the children of Israel burnt incense to it. It was called Nehushtan” (Bronze snake). However, 55 years of demonic witchcraft being instilled into Hebrew culture, and the popular assassination of Amon, left the young Josiah with a spiritual mountain to climb. My comment: Neither Manasseh’s demonism, nor Amon’s apostasy, had yet occurred. Keith Lannon continues: After reading countless times through Kings and Chronicles, the stories of Josiah’s contemporary Levitical priest Hilkiah finding something called “the scrolls” in a huge pile of dust, refuse and rats, and how the king tore his clothes after the book was read to him is impossible to unsee, post having read it through. The graphic image is like a cowhand burning cattle with a red-hot branding iron. In similar fashion, Josiah’s response is burnt into our imagination sustaining the deed in our understanding and in the depth of our souls. True worship is to be given to Yahweh and Yahweh alone. My comment: The priest, Hilkiah, is common to the accounts both of Hezekiah and Josiah, his son being Hezekiah’s High Priest (not Major Domo), Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was Jeremiah son of Hilkiah. Keith Lannon continues: I stand to be corrected, but Josiah and his Great Grandad are the only two Davidic kings [sic] who took God seriously enough to tear their clothes up in a display of their need for God’s assistance, and repentance for their own godlessness. Josiah’s passionate display was repentance for his ignorance of the Mosaic law, while Hezekiah’s was because of an absolutely hopeless situation with a quarter of a million bloodthirsty Assyrian soldiers surrounding Jerusalem. My comment: The Assyrian army of 185,000 never reached Jerusalem - as Isaiah had foretold it would not (Isaiah 37:33). It was stopped by the Simeonite heroine, Judith, at “Bethulia”, which is Shechem. Judith of Hezekiah is the Huldah of Josiah; Isaiah of Hezekiah (Uzziah of “Bethulia”) is the Asaiah of Josiah; Hilkiah of Hezekiah is the Hilkiah of Josiah; Eliakim of Hezekiah (the Joakim/Eliachim of Judith), the High Priest, is the Jeremiah of Josiah. Keith Lannon continues: The well preached and thoroughly dramatised picture of noble Hezekiah, tearfully and desperately spreading out the Rabshakeh’s letter from the king of Assyria, smoothing out the creases of the letter on the floor in case Yahweh couldn’t read the missive properly is, yet again, another of one of the most incredible moments of Hebrew history. Every action and deed by Hezekiah wreak meaning and significance. These two men [sic] seemed, throughout their lives, to fill any biblical consideration with impacting graphics as deeply spiritual as they are emotional. And it is with equal gravitas and pictorial clarity that Isaiah sent the message to Hezekiah with the quiet and peaceful message “not to worry – the problem was solved.” The weight is added to the prophet’s words when one realises that there must have been something like a quarter of a million Assyrian soldiers camped outside Jerusalem’s walls when he spoke the prophecy. My comment: No, not “outside Jerusalem’s walls”. This had happened on an earlier campaign of Sennacherib’s, one of great success to Assyria. The demise of the massive Assyrian army - which was a rout, not a Divine zapping - would occur well north of Jerusalem. Keith Lannon continues: And boy oh boy, was the problem solved! 185,000 men mysteriously lost their lives overnight in order to solve Jerusalem’s problem. The King James translation has that humourous line that, “When they awoke, they were dead.” Yes indeed, two great kings who knew what it meant to take all issues to Yahweh asking him to personally handle the scenario and get them out of their self-inflicted messes. My comment: If all 185,ooo Assyrians actually died, which they did not, how was Esarhaddon very soon afterwards able to be so potent a king? ….. Thank God for the lives of Hezekiah and Josiah. My comment: Or, thank God for the life of the Great Reforming King of Judah, Hezekiah/Josiah.