מלכים ב, פרק כ״ג, פסוק כ״ו

A profound and tragic contrast emerges at the height of King Josiah's massive spiritual reform. Despite the king's remarkable efforts to return the nation to God, the decree for the destruction of Judah remains firmly in place. The primary approach among commentators addresses a difficult question: how could Josiah's absolute devotion, and even the repentance of his predecessor Manasseh, fail to cancel God's anger? The answer lies in the deep divide between the leadership of the king and the true spiritual state of the nation. While Josiah returned to God with all his heart, his good deeds were simply not enough to repair the deep corruption that Manasseh had left behind [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

The central issue was that the people themselves never truly changed. Outwardly, they fell in line with Josiah, participating in the public destruction of idols. In secret, however, they continued to sin. They held onto the hidden practices of idol worship that Manasseh had introduced, quietly maintaining their old ways out of public view [מצודת דוד, מלבי״ם, אברבנאל]. God's anger and the harsh decree from Manasseh's era were not withdrawn because the people were fundamentally hypocritical. They presented a pure exterior but remained entirely corrupt inside [מלבי״ם].

As for Manasseh himself, his own repentance was driven by distress rather than a sincere and whole heart, which is why his return to God is entirely ignored in this part of the Biblical narrative [אברבנאל]. Furthermore, even if Manasseh eventually abandoned idolatry, he never repented for the widespread bloodshed and murders he committed. Because the people failed to protest his violent actions at the time, they remained fully complicit and shared in the guilt of those crimes [מלבי״ם, אברבנאל].

This grim reality ultimately explains the tragic death of King Josiah, who was killed in battle against Pharaoh. Josiah went to war with complete faith that his people were righteous and therefore deserving of the divine promise that no enemy sword would pass through their land. Tragically, he was unaware of the hidden sins of the masses. He did not realize that God's protection had already been removed from them, and he ultimately died because of the deep-seated sins of his generation [אברבנאל].