Josiah (1 Kings 13:2; 2 Kings 21:24; 2 Kings 22:1–2; 2 Kings 22:8–11; 2 Kings 22:13; 2 Kings 22:19–20; 2 Kings 23:2–3; 2 Kings 23:16–18; 2 Kings 23:21–25; 2 Kings 23:29–30; 2 Chronicles 34:3; 2 Chronicles 35:18; 2 Chronicles 35:22–25; Jeremiah 1:2; Jeremiah 22:11; Zephaniah 1:1; Matthew 1:10)

King of Judah Who Turned to the LORD with All His Heart

Named before his birth by a man of God at Beth-el, made king of Judah at eight years old after the people of the land slew the conspirators against Amon, he heard the book of the law found in the house of the LORD, rent his clothes, made a covenant, kept a passover, and was slain at Megiddo.

Before his birth, a man of God out of Judah cried against the altar at Beth-el: “Behold, a son shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall they burn upon thee” (1 Kings 13:2). When Amon was put to death by his servants, “the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead” (2 Kings 21:24). “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 22:1), and “he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” (2 Kings 22:2).

Kings and Chronicles tell the reform in a different order, and this study gives each in its own place. Kings follows the eighteenth year: Hilkiah the high priest found “the book of the law in the house of Jehovah” (2 Kings 22:8), the king rent his clothes, Huldah the prophetess answered the men he sent, he read the book of the covenant to all the people and made a covenant before the LORD, and only then does 2 Kings 23:4-20 describe the removal of idols in Judah and at Beth-el, followed by a passover. Chronicles reports the purging earlier, in his twelfth year, before the house was repaired (2 Chronicles 34:3-8). Of him Kings says, “like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to Jehovah with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him” (2 Kings 23:25), yet “Jehovah turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath” (2 Kings 23:26), because of what Manasseh had done (2 Kings 23:26).

His end came at Megiddo. Neco king of Egypt went up to Carchemish; Josiah went out against him, and Chronicles says he “hearkened not unto the words of Neco from the mouth of God” (2 Chronicles 35:22). The archers shot him, he died, and “all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah” (2 Chronicles 35:24-25). Jeremiah's book dates its opening word “in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign” (Jeremiah 1:2), and Zephaniah's word likewise came in his days (Zephaniah 1:1). The New Testament names him in the line of Jesus: “and Amon begat Josiah” (Matthew 1:10).

Strengths

• Did that which was right
• Sought after the God of David while yet young
• A tender heart; humbled himself before the LORD
• Rent his clothes at the words of the book
• Turned to the LORD with all his heart, soul and might

Weaknesses

• Hearkened not unto the words of Neco from the mouth of God

Themes

• The book of the law found
• Reform and the covenant
• A word fulfilled at Beth-el
• Humbling and mercy
• Death at Megiddo

Named before he is born (1 Kings 13:1–3; 1 Kings 13:32)

A man of God out of Judah cries against the altar at Beth-el that a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, who shall sacrifice upon it the priests of the high places.

Made king at eight years old (2 Kings 21:19–26; 2 Kings 22:1–2; 2 Chronicles 34:1–2)

Amon is put to death by his servants; the people of the land slay the conspirators and make Josiah king, and he does what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

Seeks God and purges Judah (Chronicles' account) (2 Chronicles 34:3–8)

Chronicles places this before the book was found: in his eighth year he began to seek after the God of David, and in his twelfth he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem, burning the bones of the priests upon their altars, and so through all the land of Israel.

The house repaired and the book found (2 Kings 22:3–10; 2 Chronicles 34:8–18)

In his eighteenth year Josiah sends Shaphan the scribe to the house of the LORD; Hilkiah says he has found the book of the law, and Shaphan reads it before the king.

The house repaired and the book found

“And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of Jehovah” (2 Kings 22:3), that the money gathered at the threshold might be given to the workmen “to repair the breaches of the house” (2 Kings 22:5). “Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully” (2 Kings 22:7).

“And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it” (2 Kings 22:8). Chronicles says that when they brought out the money, “Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Jehovah given by Moses” (2 Chronicles 34:14).

Shaphan told the king, “Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king” (2 Kings 22:10). Neither account lists what the book contained.

The king rends his clothes; the word of Huldah (2 Kings 22:11–20; 2 Chronicles 34:19–28)

Hearing the words of the book, Josiah rends his clothes and sends five men to inquire of the LORD; Huldah the prophetess says evil will come on the place but that because his heart was tender he will be gathered to his grave in peace.

The king rends his clothes; the word of Huldah

“And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes” (2 Kings 22:11). He commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan and Asaiah (2 Kings 22:12): “Go ye, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book” (2 Kings 22:13). Chronicles gives the third name as Abdon (2 Chronicles 34:20).

They “went unto Huldah the prophetess” (2 Kings 22:14) in Jerusalem (2 Kings 22:14). She said, “Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read” (2 Kings 22:16).

But for the king who sent them: “because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before Jehovah, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith Jehovah. Therefore, behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil which I will bring upon this place” (2 Kings 22:19-20).

The book read and a covenant made (2 Kings 23:1–3; 2 Chronicles 34:29–33)

The king gathers the elders, goes up to the house of the LORD with the people, reads the book of the covenant in their ears, and makes a covenant before the LORD, to which all the people stand.

The book read and a covenant made

“And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of Jehovah” (2 Kings 23:1-2).

“And the king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant” (2 Kings 23:3).

Chronicles ends its account of the covenant: “All his days they departed not from following Jehovah, the God of their fathers” (2 Chronicles 34:33).

Idols removed in Judah and the altar at Beth-el (2 Kings 23:4–20; 2 Kings 23:24)

Kings tells how Josiah burns the vessels made for Baal, puts down the idolatrous priests, breaks down Jeroboam's altar at Beth-el, burns bones on it according to the word of the man of God, lets that man's bones alone, and slays the priests of the high places in the cities of Samaria.

Idols removed in Judah and the altar at Beth-el

After the covenant, “the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest … to bring forth out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron” (2 Kings 23:4). “And he brake in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men” (2 Kings 23:14).

“Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he brake down” (2 Kings 23:15). “And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount; and he sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of Jehovah which the man of God proclaimed” (2 Kings 23:16).

He asked, “What monument is that which I see?” (2 Kings 23:17) The men of the city told him it was the sepulchre of the man of God who came from Judah. “And he said, Let him be; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone” (2 Kings 23:18). Chronicles reports this purging earlier, in the twelfth year (2 Chronicles 34:3-7), and does not narrate the act at Beth-el.

The passover (2 Kings 23:21–23; 2 Chronicles 35:1–19)

The king commands all the people to keep the passover as written in the book of the covenant, and in his eighteenth year it is kept as none had been since the days of the judges.

Slain at Megiddo (2 Kings 23:29–30; 2 Chronicles 35:20–24)

Neco king of Egypt goes up to the Euphrates; Josiah goes out against him, hearkens not to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, is shot by the archers in the valley of Megiddo, and dies.

Slain at Megiddo

“In his days Pharaoh-necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and Pharaoh-necoh slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him” (2 Kings 23:29).

Chronicles adds that Neco sent ambassadors, saying, “What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; and God hath commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not” (2 Chronicles 35:21).

“Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded” (2 Chronicles 35:22-23). Scripture does not state why he went out against Neco.

“And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre” (2 Kings 23:30); Chronicles says he “was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers” (2 Chronicles 35:24).

Mourned by Jeremiah; Jehoahaz made king (2 Chronicles 35:24–27; 2 Kings 23:30; 2 Chronicles 36:1)

All Judah and Jerusalem mourn; Jeremiah laments for Josiah, and the people of the land make Jehoahaz his son king in his father's stead.

Amon (2 Kings 21:19–26; Matthew 1:10)

His father, put to death by his servants, after which the people of the land made Josiah king in his stead.

David (1 Kings 13:2; 2 Kings 22:2; 2 Chronicles 34:3)

Josiah is called a son of David's house, walked in the way of David his father, and began to seek the God of David his father.

Hilkiah the priest (2 Kings 22:4–14; 2 Kings 23:4; 2 Chronicles 34:14)

The high priest who found the book of the law in the house of the LORD, was sent with others to inquire of Huldah, and was commanded to bring forth the vessels made for Baal.

Shaphan the scribe (2 Kings 22:3–14)

Sent by the king to the house of the LORD; he read the book before the king and went with the men who inquired of Huldah.

Huldah the prophetess (2 Kings 22:14–20; 2 Chronicles 34:22–28)

The prophetess in Jerusalem to whom the king's men went, and through whom the LORD said that the king's heart was tender and he should be gathered to his grave in peace.

The man of God out of Judah (1 Kings 13:1–3; 2 Kings 23:16–18)

Unnamed; he cried against the altar at Beth-el and named Josiah, and Josiah let his bones alone.

Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:2; 2 Chronicles 35:25)

His word came in the days of Josiah, and Jeremiah lamented for Josiah after Megiddo.

Neco king of Egypt (2 Chronicles 35:20–22; 2 Kings 23:29)

Went up to Carchemish; his message to Josiah is called words from the mouth of God, and Pharaoh-necoh slew him at Megiddo.

Jehoahaz king of Judah (2 Kings 23:30; 2 Chronicles 36:1)

His son, whom the people of the land took, anointed and made king in his father's stead.

Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (1 Chronicles 3:15; Jeremiah 1:3; Jeremiah 22:13–19)

Sons of Josiah who reigned in Judah; in a word concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, Jeremiah recalls that his father did justice and righteousness, and then it was well with him.

Major sections

• 1 Kings 13:1–3
• 2 Kings 21:19–23:30
• 2 Chronicles 33:21–35:27
• Jeremiah 1:2–3
• Jeremiah 22:10–19
• Zephaniah 1:1

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