How would Josiah likely behave? With those role models? What is surprising is that Josiah is completely different. Before God describes his actions in detail, three things are said about Josiah. They are like a heading:

1. he did what was right in the sight of the Lord

2. he walked in the ways of his father David

3. he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

What God Says About Josiah’s Life

Let us now turn to the statements about Josiah. They are three statements with real weight which speak to us too:

1. “He did what was right in the sight of God”

Josiah knew that God saw everything he did. Nothing stayed hidden. That goes further than our actions alone. Our words and our thoughts are open before God. “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).

This fact moved him to do “what was right in the sight of God.” Josiah wanted God’s approval.

Doing What Is Right in Your Own Eyes

The opposite behavior is doing what is right in your own eyes. The behavior of the people of Israel, as described in Judges, was marked by that. The time of the judges was shaped by everyone doing “what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Yet what seemed right and good in their own eyes was evil in God’s eyes. God judged their behavior as doing “what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judges 3:6).

Samson as an Example

Samson is a prototype of that time. Judges 14 describes how he goes to Timnah and falls in love with a woman. But this woman did not belong to Israel. She belonged to the Philistines, declared enemies of Israel. Yet that was clearly no criterion for Samson. He tells his father he wanted this woman as his wife.

His father does protest. But Samson replies, “Get her for me, for she looks good to me” (Judges 14:3). With that, he acted against his father’s counsel. He also clearly acted against God’s instructions. “There is a way which seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). That proved true in Samson’s case, quite literally.

Which Standard Shapes My Life?

It is about whether we live by our own will, or by God’s will. What is the standard for my life? Is it me? What I like? What I think is good? Or my friends, or society? What do we orientate ourselves by?

At least Josiah “did what was right in the sight of God.” That can motivate us too.

Let us turn to the next statement about Josiah.

2. He “walked in the ways of his father David”

David was not his biological father. That was Amon. But David was his spiritual father. He was the example Josiah followed.

David was the man “after God’s heart.” We find that remarkable statement twice in God’s Word. When we look at these passages, it becomes clear why God calls him “a man after My heart.”

Two Key Passages

1. 1 Samuel 13:13–14: “And Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.’”

2. Acts 13:22: “After He had removed him, He raised up David as their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’”

Saul and David

Saul was the king the people had chosen. Saul’s appearance must have impressed the people greatly. He is described as young, handsome, and taller than all the men of Israel (1 Samuel 9:2). But in his heart, which people could not see, there was self-will and disobedience. In the end, that disobedience cost him the kingdom. We saw that in the first passage.

On the other hand, there is David. When the prophet Samuel is sent to anoint the new king, David was not even called in. He was so insignificant to the people. In fact, Samuel is also fooled at first by the outward appearance of the other candidates. But God says to him, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

God Looks at the Heart

For one thing, we want to adopt God’s perspective. We live in a society where outward appearance is what counts. That ultimately leads to superficiality. But God is not concerned only with outward things. He is concerned with inner attitude, with the “heart.”

And what did God see in David’s heart? An unconditional desire to obey God and do what God wanted. No, David was not a person who was perfect and without sin. Think only of the adultery with Bathsheba. But David was also a man who saw his sin and confessed it before God. Read Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 on this. That made him a “man after God’s heart”!

Role Models Today

Even today, God is still looking for men and women after His heart. Josiah was one of them. That showed in his life. Do you and I have a desire to be that too?

David was Josiah’s spiritual role model. It was a model that motivated him to live a life with God. What role models do we have? Who are the people we occupy ourselves with? Who do we look up to? Who influences us?

Often they are the musicians, actors, or athletes of this world. But can they really help us do what Hebrews 13:7 calls us to do? “…and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” The decisive question is this. In which direction do our role models pull us? Closer to God, or farther away from Him?

We Are Role Models Too

At the same time, we must realize that we ourselves are also role models. The question also applies to us. Are we a help to others, or a hindrance to their relationship with God?

Paul could urge the Corinthians, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). If Christ is our model, and something of Him can be seen in our lives, then we are good role models.

3. He “did not turn aside to the right or to the left”

Josiah’s life was balanced and without extremes. It was not to one side or the other. In this, Josiah is the only king about whom this is said. It is striking that it does not say exactly what Josiah did not turn aside from. However, regarding the Law that God gave Israel, we find the command that the people should not turn aside to the right or to the left. For example, in Deuteronomy 5:32: “So you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left.”

Application for Us

It is not hard to apply that to us. We have the whole Word of God, Old and New Testament. We are to turn aside from it neither to the right nor to the left.

We turn aside to the right when we go beyond God’s Word. We add something, or overemphasize something. These can be views that we cannot really support with the Bible. Yet we present them as the only correct ones.

Many practices, personal and communal, are grounded in tradition. Not every tradition is equally bad. At least not when it does not contradict God’s Word. Yet even then, there is a danger. We can place a tradition on the same level as God’s Word. In that way we add something to God’s Word.

On the other hand, we turn aside to the left when we take something away from God’s Word. Or we reduce it to what we like. Of course, no one would think of tearing out certain pages of the Bible. Yet we do nothing else when we downgrade the binding force of Bible passages.

An extreme example is this view. You do not see the whole Bible as God’s Word. You say only that it contains the Word of God. Or we take something away from the Bible when we set passages aside. We claim they applied only to the culture back then. That is an argument often used regarding the letters to the Corinthians. We also take something away when we think God would make an exception for us. Or we apply the Bible with full sharpness to others. But when it comes to us or our family, we become very generous.

Several more examples can certainly be found. But how can such a deviation from God’s Word be prevented?

How to Prevent Deviating from God’s Word

  • by being sincere before ourselves and before God
  • by having reverence for His Word and accepting it as God’s Word
  • by reading God’s Word daily, with prayer, so that we learn ALL of God’s thoughts
  • by putting into practice what we have recognized from God’s Word
  • by having the firm resolve to follow the path of the Bible
  • by being willing to let the Bible correct us.