Josiah
Judah · 640 – 609 BC · 31 years · 2 Kings 22 – 23:30; 2 Chronicles 34 – 35
His Story
Crowned at eight, seeking God at sixteen, purging Judah at twenty — altars, groves, and high places ground to dust, from Jerusalem to Bethel, where he burned the bones of idolatrous priests on Jeroboam’s own altar as a prophet had named him three centuries before (1 Kings 13:2). At eighteen, repairing the Temple, Hilkiah found the Book of the Law; read to the king, it split his heart — he tore his clothes, inquired of the LORD, renewed the covenant before all the people, and kept a Passover unmatched since the days of Samuel.
His Sin — How He Displeased the LORD
Scripture lays almost nothing to his charge: his one recorded failure is his last — at Megiddo he disguised himself and would not turn back from Pharaoh-nechoh’s warning, though the Chronicler notes Necho’s words were “from the mouth of God” and Josiah “hearkened not” (2 Chronicles 35:22). One battle he was not sent to fight cost Judah its last godly king.
The Good He Did
“And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD 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). The tenderest heart in the books of the Kings: “because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself… I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.”
The LORD’s verdict
“And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, 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 (KJV)
How His Reign Ended
Struck by Egyptian archers at Megiddo, he died and was carried to Jerusalem amid national lamentation — Jeremiah himself lamented for Josiah, and the mourning became an ordinance in Israel. Judgment was deferred for his sake to after his death; he was gathered to his fathers in peace, spared seeing the evil.
Lessons for Believers Today
- One found book, honestly read, can reform a nation: Josiah’s whole revival is the sound of a king weeping over an open Bible. Keep finding the Book.
- Even the best kings must not fight uncommanded battles: zeal does not sanctify a war God did not order. Finish the course you were given.