Josiah

Also known as: King Josiah, Josias

King · The Book of the Law Reformer

Josiah became king of Judah at the age of eight after the assassination of his father Amon, and scripture records simply: "he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD" (2 Kings 22:2). In the eighteenth year of his reign, while the Temple was being repaired, the high priest Hilkiah discovered the Book of the Law — likely Deuteronomy or the full Torah — which had been lost during the previous wicked reigns. When Josiah heard the words read aloud, "he rent his clothes" in anguish at how far Judah had strayed (2 Kings 22:11). He led the most thorough religious reform in Judah's history: destroying altars, removing Baal worship, demolishing the high places that had stood since Solomon's time, and renewing the national covenant with God. He celebrated a Passover "like of which had not been kept from the days of the judges" (2 Kings 23:22). Tragically, Josiah was killed in battle at Megiddo when he confronted Pharaoh Necho, who was marching to aid Assyria against Babylon (2 Kings 23:29).

Key Events

1Became king at age 8
2Book of the Law discovered in Temple
3Tore his robes in repentance
4Led the most thorough reform in Judah's history
5Celebrated greatest Passover since the judges
6Killed in battle at Megiddo against Pharaoh Necho

What Scripture Says (48 verses)

1 Kings 13:2

And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.

1 Kings · Chapter 13

2 Kings 21:24

And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

2 Kings · Chapter 21

2 Kings 21:26

And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.

2 Kings · Chapter 21

2 Kings 22:1

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.

2 Kings · Chapter 22

2 Kings 22:3

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 the LORD, saying,

2 Kings · Chapter 22

2 Kings 23:16

And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

2 Kings · Chapter 23

2 Kings 23:19

And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.

2 Kings · Chapter 23

2 Kings 23:23

But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.

2 Kings · Chapter 23

2 Kings 23:24

Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

2 Kings · Chapter 23

2 Kings 23:28

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

2 Kings · Chapter 23

Showing 10 of 48 verses

Church Tradition

Death

Killed by Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo

Location: Megiddo

Source: 2 Kings 23:29-30

Biblical Record

Details

Verses: 48
Category: king

Appears In

2 Kings 2 Chronicles Jeremiah Zephaniah

Key Verses

2 Kings 22:2

2 Kings 22:8-11

2 Kings 23:3

2 Kings 23:22

2 Kings 23:29