Three-Hundred-Year-Old Prophecy Fulfilled

Centuries before, Jeroboam in bold defiance of God had set up an unconsecrated altar at Bethel. During the dedication of this altar, there had suddenly appeared a man of God from Judea who “cried against the altar,” declaring: “O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.” 1 Kings 13:2.SS 210.3

Three centuries had passed. Josiah the king found himself in Bethel, where stood this ancient altar. The prophecy uttered so many years before was now to be literally fulfilled.SS 210.4

“The altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and he broke in pieces its stones, crushing them to dust ... . And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount; and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things.” 2 Kings 23:15, 16, RSV.SS 210.5

On the southern slopes of Olivet, opposite the beautiful temple of Jehovah on Mount Moriah, were shrines and images placed there by Solomon to please his idolatrous wives. See 1 Kings 11:6-8. For upwards of three centuries the great, misshapen images had stood, mute witness to the apostasy of Israel's wisest king. These, too, were destroyed by Josiah.SS 211.1

The king sought further to establish the faith of Judah by holding a great Passover in harmony with the provisions made in the book of the law. “For no such passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the kings of Israel or the kings of Judah.” 2 Kings 23:22, RSV. But the zeal of Josiah could not atone for the sins of past generations, nor could the piety displayed by the king's followers effect a change of heart in many who stubbornly refused to turn from idolatry to worship the true God.SS 211.2

For more than a decade following the Passover, Josiah continued to reign. At thirty-nine he met death in battle with the forces of Egypt. “All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented” for him. 2 Chronicles 35:24, 25.SS 211.3

The time was rapidly approaching when Jerusalem was to be utterly destroyed and the inhabitants of the land carried captive to Babylon, there to learn lessons they had refused to learn under circumstances more favorable.SS 211.4