{"id":64510,"date":"2019-10-20T17:08:08","date_gmt":"2019-10-20T14:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64510"},"modified":"2023-05-16T08:43:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T05:43:49","slug":"josiah-the-shema-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/josiah-the-shema-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Josiah, The ‘Shema’ King\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The familiar commandment to love God recited daily in the <\/span>Shema<\/span><\/em> demands an all embracing commitment of the self toward God which no other love entails, including that of loving one\u2019s neighbor. Uniquely Deuteronomy mandates a saturating love of God <\/span>with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might<\/em> <\/span>(6:5; 10:12).In the entire history of biblical monarchy only King Josiah is characterized in the language of the <\/span>Shema<\/em> <\/span>by his exceptional <\/span>turn to God with all his heart and all his soul and all his might according to the entire Teaching (Torah) of Moses<\/em> <\/span>(2Kings 23:25).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The chapter prefaces this accolade of supreme dedication with a lengthy record of approximately twenty verses detailing Josiah’s radical extirpation of idolatry in all its forms. He eradicated, banished, demolished, and defiled every single vestige of its presence within his jurisdiction. He located and razed every possible monument, symbol, and venue of idolatrous worship and sacrifice including shrines, altars, fetishes, and images literally pulverizing much of it into dust. Only the God of Israel (<\/span>YHVH<\/span><\/i>) remained as the sole viable option for sacred devotion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, King Josiah who is the sole biblical embodiment of conduct imbued with \u201call of the heart, soul, and might\u201d actualizes externally what the love of God demands internally- a space that is so God-suffused that it leaves no room for anything else but God. Verse 25 commences with the singularity of Josiah among the kings <\/span>since there was no other king like him previously<\/em> <\/span>in this unmitigated devotion of heart, soul, and might. The instrument of his impassioned fidelity to God is the <\/span>Torah of Moses<\/em> <\/span>which presents another striking image of identity distinguishing him from all his royal predecessors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In their thirst for power the other kings projected a persona distinct from the Torah that, in accordance with law of the king in Deuteronomy 17, was to accompany the king in all his monarchic capacities. While they presented a disjuncture between their authority and the Torah’s, Josiah’s governance projected a merger of the throne and the Torah. He fused politics and law into an ideal regime where the king’s personal identity is overwhelmed by the constitution which he represents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Josiah’s incomparable devotion to God then, driven by the same existential ingredients of <\/span>heart, soul, and might<\/span><\/em>, offers a paradigm for what the love of Deut. 6:5 entails: the absolute submergence of identity in the divine object of love leaving no other object within the purview of the lover. Occupying the uppermost echelons of power and dominance, the king must marshal supreme exertion in order to suppress a personality that is most prone to self- aggrandizement. Josiah’s model militates against the monarchic current whose tendency was to subjugate others rather than submit themselves to a higher authority.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64511,"id":64511,"title":"2kings23-josiah","filename":"2kings23-josiah.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings23-josiah.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/josiah-the-shema-king\/2kings23-josiah\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings23-josiah","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64510,"date":"2019-10-20 14:07:51","modified":"2022-01-30 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