Josiah

Josiah (Hebrew Yoshiyahu, “the LORD heals” or “the LORD supports”) was one of the last and greatest kings of Judah, reigning about 640–609 BC. He came to the throne at only eight years old after his father Amon was assassinated, and “he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the way of David his father” (2 Kings 22:1-2). His birth and reforming work had been foretold by name three centuries earlier when a man of God cried out against Jeroboam’s altar at Bethel (1 Kings 13:2).

Seeking the God of David already in his youth, Josiah launched the most thorough religious reform in Judah’s history — purging the temple and land of the altars of Baal, the Asherah, and the high places, and even tearing down and defiling the ancient altar at Bethel (2 Chronicles 34:3-7; 2 Kings 23:15). The turning point came during the temple repairs, when the high priest Hilkiah found the Book of the Law; when it was read to the king, he tore his clothes in grief at how far the nation had departed from it (2 Kings 22:8-11).

The prophetess Huldah, consulted on the king’s behalf, confirmed that judgment would come on Judah for its idolatry, yet would be deferred in Josiah’s own days because his heart was tender and he had humbled himself before the LORD (2 Kings 22:15-20). Josiah gathered the people and renewed the covenant, reading the Law in their hearing and pledging to keep it (2 Kings 23:1-3), then kept a Passover unequalled since the days of the judges (2 Kings 23:21-23). Of him it is written, “Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart… nor did any like him arise after him” (2 Kings 23:25).

Josiah’s reign overlapped the early ministry of Jeremiah, who prophesied through these years (Jeremiah 1:1-2). He met a tragic end, killed at Megiddo while trying to halt Pharaoh Neco’s army, and was deeply mourned — Jeremiah composing laments for him (2 Chronicles 35:20-25). Though his personal faithfulness delayed the exile, the reform did not reach the nation’s heart, and within decades Judah fell to Babylon. Josiah stands as a model of wholehearted devotion and of the power of God’s Word to awaken repentance.