Josiah then had the word of the Law read out to all the people, from the least to the greatest. He wanted all the people to know what the Law says. He then also renewed the covenant, ie he recommitted the nation to God and to His Law. Then all the people followed suit. So the king led the people and the people followed. Leaders have a responsibility to give leadership, but the people also have a responsibility to understand and to commit themselves to God.
After the reading of the word and the commitment came action. First all the false idols were cleared out of the temple and they were burnt outside Jerusalem. The priests of the false gods were then removed as well. Next the male shine prostitutes were dealt with, along with the women who did weaving for Asherah. A whole industry and culture had built up about the idol worship. Worship of false gods does not come by itself, but brings a whole host of things with it.
Next the various shrines throughout the land were dealt with. All in all Josiah did as thorough a job as possible of removing all traces of idol worship from the land.
Having cleansed the land Josiah moved to positive worship, bringing back the celebration of the Passover.
Yet despite this great commitment, the sentence of death upon Judah remained.
Josiah was killed in a battle against Egypt and was killed. It seems strange to us that God's judgement remained, despite all Josiah's actions. The truth is that only the death and resurrection of Jesus is sufficient to truly cleanse us.
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