Who’s the Greatest?

Hezekiah is the greatest; 2 Kings 18:5 says so: “He trusted Yahweh, the God of Israel; so tyhat after him there was no like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.”

Josiah is the greatest; 2 Kings 23:25 says so: “before him there was no king like him who turned to Yahweh with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.”

Russell Dilday suggests resolving this by noting the specifics of what is said about each:

Hezekiah has incomparable faith, Josiah incomparable obedience to Torah. Matthew Poole says something similar, and so also Matthew Henry: “As Hezekiah was a nonsuch for faith and dependence upon God in straits . . . so Josiah was a nonsuch for sincerity and zeal in carrying on a work of reformation.”

This suffices for harmonizing the two passages, but when two such similar statements occur in the space of a few chapters, the author is up to something. But what?

Perhaps this: Hezekiah is incomparable in faith, Josiah in obedience, and the sequence is analogous to the sequence from Abraham and Moses, as seen by Paul. (Of course, faith and obedience are not mutually exclusive; Abraham was obedient in faith and Moses’ obedience arose from faith. The issue is emphasis.) In this regard, it’s interesting that the man of faith, Hezekiah, is preserved from destruction, but not the man of the law. Manasseh intervenes between them, and his sins determine the outcome of Josiah’s reforms. Yet, there may also be some hints about the efficacy of faith and the impotence of the law (Hab 1).