Josiah

The son of King Amon, who ruled Judah from 640 to 609 BC, was considered Israel's model king, a king whose heart was centred in God and set to renew the nation in their love and obedience to Yahweh.

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(Generation 28)

When Josiah came to the throne aged only eight after his father was murdered by court officials disgruntled with his rule, he inherited a kingdom that was in extremely bad shape. Religiously, his grandfather Manasseh and his father Amon had been the most notorious idolaters in Judah's history. Politically, the country had been an Assyrian vassal for a century; five generations since King Ahaz submitted to the yoke of Assyrian imperialism.

It was very likely Josiah's reign in the early years were administered by good godly men who guided him away from the religious practices of his father and grandfather. In the 18th year of his reign 629/8 BC), and taking advantage of the declining strength of the Assyrian power, he began a series of tentative reforms. The exact contours of his reforms remain fuzzy but during the repair of the Temple in Jerusalem, a "book of the Law"—apparently long lost—was found. Its reading (scholars think it was most likely the book of Deuteronomy or parts of it) sent shockwaves and consternation on Josiah and his court for it spoke clearly of the Yahweh's displeasure with idolatry and the curses that would fall upon the land because of it. This seemed to have led to further reforms, including the cleansing of the land of idolatrous sites and cultic paraphernalia, venturing as far as Samaria to do so, and getting rid of the mediums and spiritists in the land. The author of the book of Kings praised him highly, "Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses" (23:25).

A short while after Josiah began his reforms, Assyria was rocked by a civil war that further sapped its already diminishing power. In 626 BC the Assyrian lost the city of Babylon to a Chaldean princeling named Nabopolassar. Events escalated swiftly after this, and by 609 BC the Assyrians were struggling to survive, holed up in Haran. At this point the Egyptians, reckoning that keeping the Assryian in power up in the north would help them extend their own imperialistic ambitions in the south, decided to come to the Assyrians' aid. Josiah decided, however, to check the pharaoh's plan and meet the Egyptian forces in battle at Megiddo, where he was killed. Josiah's decision delayed any help the Assyrians could have received from the Egyptians, and the event brought the Assyrian empire to an end. Josiah was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz. On the way back from Haran the pharaoh Neco, however, took Jehoahaz into captivity, replacing him with Jehoiakim, and for the next few years Judah became an Egyptian vassal.

Further Reading & Resources:

Marvic Sweeney, King Josiah of Judah. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

☰ Donald W.B. Robinson, Josiah's Reform and the Book of the Law. London: The Tyndale Press, 1951. pp.40.