The Lord burns; the fire of the Lord

Healed by Jehovah, or Jehovah will support. The son of Amon, and his successor on the throne of Judah (2 Kings 22:1 ; 2 Chronicles 34:1 ). His history is contained in 2 Kings 2223,23 . He stands foremost among all the kings of the line of David for unswerving loyalty to Jehovah (23:25). He "did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father." He ascended the throne at the early age of eight years, and it appears that not till eight years afterwards did he begin "to seek after the God of David his father." At that age he devoted himself to God. He distinguished himself by beginning a war of extermination against the prevailing idolatry, which had practically been the state religion for some seventy years (2 Chronicles 34:3 ; Compare Jeremiah 25:3,11,29 ). In the eighteenth year of his reign he proceeded to repair and beautify the temple, which by time and violence had become sorely dilapidated (2 Kings 22:3,5,6 ; 23:23 ; 2 Chronicles 34:11 ). While this work was being carried on, Hilkiah, the high priest, discovered a roll, which was probably the original copy of the law, the entire Pentateuch, written by Moses. When this book was read to him, the king was alarmed by the things it contained, and sent for Huldah, the "prophetess," for her counsel. She spoke to him words of encouragement, telling him that he would be gathered to his fathers in peace before the threatened days of judgment came. Josiah immediately gathered the people together, and engaged them in a renewal of their ancient national covenant with God. The Passover was then celebrated, as in the days of his great predecessor, Hezekiah, with unusual magnificence. Nevertheless, "the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah" (2 Kings 22:3-20 ; 23:21-27 ; 2 Chronicles 35:1-19 ). During the progress of this great religious revolution Jeremiah helped it on by his earnest exhortations. Soon after this, Pharaoh-Necho II. (q.v.), king of Egypt, in an expedition against the king of Assyria, with the view of gaining possession of Carchemish, sought a passage through the territory of Judah for his army. This Josiah refused to permit. He had probably entered into some new alliance with the king of Assyria, and faithful to his word he sought to oppose the progress of Necho. The army of Judah went out and encountered that of Egypt at Megiddo, on the verge of the plain of Esdraelon. Josiah went into the field in disguise, and was fatally wounded by a random arrow. His attendants conveyed him toward Jerusalem, but had only reached Hadadrimmon, a few miles south of Megiddo, when he died (2 Kings 23:28,30 ; Compare 2 Chronicles 35:20-27 ), after a reign of thirty-one years. He was buried with the greatest honours in fulfilment of Huldah's prophecy (2 Kings 22:20 ; Compare Jeremiah 34:5 ). Jeremiah composed a funeral elegy on this the best of the kings of Israel (Lamentations 4:20 ; 2 Chronicles 35:25 ). The outburst of national grief on account of his death became proverbial (Zechariah 12:11 ; Compare Revelation 16:16 ).

(joh ssi' uh) Personal name meaning, “Yahweh heals.” Judah's king from about 640-609 B.C. He succeeded his father Amon, an idolatrous king, who ruled for only two years before being murdered by his servants (2 Kings 21:19-23 ; 2 Chronicles 33:21-24 ). Josiah became king at the age of eight due to wishes of “the people of the land” who put his father's assassins to death (2 Kings 21:24 ). Josiah's reign lasted for thirty-one years (2 Kings 22:1 ; 2 Chronicles 34:1 ). The Book of 2Chronicles reveals much about the early years of Josiah. In his eighth year as king he began to seek the God of David (2 Chronicles 34:3 ). Josiah initiated a religious purge of Jerusalem, Judah, and surrounding areas during his twelfth year on the throne (2 Chronicles 34:3-7 ). This purge included tearing down the high places, the Asherah, and the altars to Baal. The high places were essentially Canaanite worship centers that had been taken over by Israel. The Asherah were cult objects associated with the worship of Baal, the fertility god of Canaan. See Asherah . In his eighteenth year as king an unexpected event turned his energies in new directions. A “Book of the Law” was discovered while repairs were being made on the Temple. Hilkiah, the high priest, found the book and gave it to Shaphan, the scribe, who in turn read it to King Josiah. Upon hearing the message of the book, Josiah tore his clothes, a sign of repentance, and humbled himself before God. Josiah was assured that the promised destruction would not come in his time (2 Kings 22:8-20 ; 2 Chronicles 34:15-28 ). The reading of this book prompted Josiah to instigate the most far-reaching religious reforms in Israel's history. What was this “Book of the Law” and when was it written? Most scholars believe that this book included at least the core of our present Book of Deuteronomy, either 2 Chronicles 5-26 or 12-26. A major thrust of the Book of Deuteronomy was to call the nation Israel to exclusive loyalty to Yahweh. Perhaps a thrust such as this inspired the Josianic revival. The Bible is silent about the remaining years of Josiah until his death. On the international scene during those years Assyria's power was waning, and Babylon's was on the rise. Assyria had aligned itself with Egypt against Babylon. Pharoah Neco's troups were passing through territory north of Judah en route to join forces with Assyria. Josiah's army blocked the movement of Egyptian troups at Megiddo. In the battle that followed Josiah was mortally wounded (2 Kings 23:29 ). His body was taken to Jerusalem where he was buried. There was great mourning for him throughout the land (2 Chronicles 35:24-25 ). Though only thirty-nine when he died, Josiah was remembered as Judah's greatest king (2 Kings 23:25 ): “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 the Law of Moses” (NIV). See Jeremiah ; Deuteronomy. M. Stephen Davis

JOSIAH. 1. King of Judah, who succeeded his father Amon when only eight years old ( 2 Kings 22:1 ). The religious condition of the people, which was bad under Amon, continued without essential improvement, so far as we know, until the eighteenth year of Josiah. The sudden change then made resulted from the finding of the Book of Instruction in the Temple ( 2 Kings 22:8 ff.); but it is possible that the minds of king and people were prepared for it by the Scythian invasion. The demand of the book for a thorough reformation powerfully affected the king and his officers. The book was read publicly, and king and people entered into a solemn covenant to act according to its injunctions. Its central demand was the removal of all altars in the country except the one at Jerusalem. This was henceforth to be the only sanctuary in Judah. The carrying out of this programme is related in detail, and we learn that the conclusion of the work was marked by the celebration of the Passover in a new manner and with unusual solemnity ( 2 Kings 23:21 ff.). Josiah’s reign was characterized by justice, as we learn from Jeremiah, but we know no more of it until the end of the king’s life. The Assyrian empire was tottering to its fall, and Pharaoh-necho thought to seize the provinces nearest him and attach them to Egypt. He therefore invaded Palestine with an army. Josiah was ill-advised enough to attempt resistance. In the battle which ensued he was slain (2 Kings 23:29 ). His motive in undertaking this expedition has been much discussed. Probably he hoped to restore the real independence of Judah. That he was beloved by his people is indicated by their deep and long-continued mourning. 2. Son of Zephaniah ( Zechariah 6:10 ). H. P. Smith.

JOSIAH.—The well-known king of Judah, named in our Lord’s genealogy (Matthew 1:10 f.).

Josiah (jo-sî'ah), whom Jehovah heals. One of the pious kings of Judah. He reigned 31 years, b.c. 640-610. He ascended the throne at the early age of eight years, and before his eighteenth year he had cut off and destroyed all the idols of the land, with their temples, groves, and monuments; and had ransacked the sepulchres of the idolatrous priests, and burned their bones upon the altars, in accordance with the prophecy of the man of God, announced in the presence of Jeroboam 326 years before Josiah was born. 2 Kings 22:1-267; 1618389121_4; 2 Chronicles 34:1-2. In the prosecution of the thorough repair and purification of the temple, Hilkiah "found the book of the Law of the Lord by Moses." Josiah immediately convoked the whole realm, and in person read the book of the Law to them, and exacted from them a promise to obey it. 2 Kings 22:8-20; 2 Chronicles 34:14-33. The Scythians are supposed to have invaded Palestine between the thirteenth and the eighteenth year of his reign. Josiah was mortally wounded at Megiddo, and died at Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was greatly affected by it, and composed an elegy on the occasion, 2 Chronicles 35:25, and all those accustomed to celebrate in song the worth and achievements of men of great eminence, both men and women, mourned for Josiah for ages after his death. Indeed, the mourning was such as to become proverbial. Zechariah 12:11. He was only 39 years of age when he died.

JOSIAH was born with a tender heart, says Huldah the prophetess. Josiah's father and grandfather were the two worst kings that had ever sold Israel into slavery. And Josiah inherited from his father and from his grandfather a name of shame, an undermined throne, a divided and a distracted kingdom, a national religion and a public worship debased, and, indeed, bestialised; and, over all, a fearful looking for of judgment. And all that broke and made tender Josiah's heart from the day of his birth. We are told nothing of Josiah's unhappy mother. But may we not be allowed to believe that her heart also was made tender within her by all that she had come through, till she bore and brought up her son Josiah to be the most tender-hearted man in all Israel, till Mary bore and brought up her child to be the most tender-hearted man in all the world? If a boy has a good mother and a good minister he is all but independent of his father. And with Jedidah for his mother, and with Jeremiah for his minister, both Manasseh his grandfather and Amon his father taken together did not succeed in corrupting and destroying young Josiah. The tender heart of the young prince took all the good out of his so terribly untoward circumstances, and escaped all the evil, till Jeremiah was able to pronounce this noble panegyric over the too early grave of Josiah,-'That it is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth; and that it is also good for such a man quietly to hope and to wait for the salvation of the Lord.' With Jeremiah every Sabbath-day among the ruins of the temple, and with Jedidah every week-day at home, notwithstanding all Josiah's drawbacks and heart-breaks,-or, rather, because of them,-I do not wonder that Josiah soon became the very best sovereign that had ever sat on the throne of David. Early in the days of his youth Josiah began to seek after the God of David his father. That is to say,-however well a boy may have been brought up; however good a mother he may have had, and however efficient and faithful a minister, the time soon comes when every young man must seek his own God for himself. Neither David's God, nor Jedidah's God, nor Jeremiah's God will suffice for Josiah. Josiah is an orphan and a prince with a terrible heritage of woe. And a second-hand and a merely educational and hereditary knowledge of God will not suffice for Josiah's singular and extraordinary case. Josiah cannot rest till he is able to say for himself-'Thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. O Lord, truly I am Thy servant, the son of Thine handmaid; Thou hast loosed my bonds.' And, all the time, while Josiah still sought the Lord, and till he found Him, the tenderness of Josiah's heart kept him safe and unspotted from all the corruptions of the world. A boy will be at a school where all kinds of evil are rampant. He will then enter a workshop or an office where so many young men go astray. But there has always been something about that boy that has kept him through it all both pure and pious. And it has been his tender heart that has done it. Augustine has his finest passage in point. Monica's son, like Jedidah's son, had drunk in the name of Jesus Christ with his mother's milk; and all the folly of philosophy, and all the sweetness of sensuality could never seduce nor satisfy Augustine's heart. God had made Augustine's great heart for Himself; and neither true nor false, neither sweet nor bitter, neither good nor bad, could solace or satiate that deep, predestinated heart. Nothing, and no one, but God Himself. So it was with Josiah. And so it was with ourselves. And so it has been, and so it will be, with thousands of the sons of mothers like Jedidah, and with thousands of the scholars and young communicants of ministers like Jeremiah and Zephaniah. Josiah was only twenty years of age when he set about a national reformation of religion as radical and as complete as anything that Martin Luther or John Calvin or John Knox themselves ever undertook. But with this immense difference. Both Luther and Calvin and Knox had the whole Word of God in their hands both to inspire them and to guide them and to support them in their tremendous task. But Josiah had not one single book or chapter or verse even of the Word of God in his heathen day. The Five Books of Moses were as completely lost out of the whole land long before Josiah's day as much so as if Moses had never lifted a pen. And thus it was that Josiah's reformation had a creativeness, an originality, an enterprise, and a boldness about it, such that in all these respects it has completely eclipsed all subsequent reformations and revivals, the greatest and the best. The truth is, the whole of that immense movement that resulted in the religious regeneration of Jerusalem and Judah in Josiah's day,-it all sprang originally and immediately out of nothing else but Josiah's extraordinary tenderness of heart. The Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world shone with extraordinary clearness in Josiah's tender heart and open mind. And Josiah walked in that Light and obeyed it, till it became within him an overmastering sense of divine duty and an irresistible direction and drawing of the Divine Hand; and till he performed a work for God and for Israel second to no work that has ever been performed under the greatest and the best of the prophets and kings of Israel combined. It is a very noble spectacle. This royal youth of but about twenty years old, and the son and heir of Manasseh and Amon, having the intellectual boldness and the spiritual originality to take all his statesmanship, and all his churchman ship, and all his international politics, and all his righteous wars, as well as all his personal and household religion, all out of his own tender heart. There never was a nobler proof of our Lord's great New Testament principle that he that doeth the will of God shall know the doctrine. For it was in the progress of that reformation and revival of religion which his own tender heart had alone dictated to him that the long-lost law of Moses was recovered. And recovered in as many divine and commanding and rewarding words, so as to sanction and seal, as if from heaven itself, all the bold and believing task that Josiah had wholly of himself undertaken. We all profess to believe in special providences and in divine interpositions; but, surely, the extraordinary providence that brought to the light of day and put into Josiah's hands the long-lost law of Moses concerning the worship and morals of Israel was an incomparable miracle of the Divine grace and goodness. Josiah was worthy; and God's recognition and reward of Josiah's worth came to Josiah at the very best moment, and in the very best way; for it came to him as the very law of the living God; and that, too, as good as if it had been written on the spot by God's own living hand. Humanly speaking, we should never have heard of the Five Books of Moses, as we have heard of them, but for Josiah's tender heart. Humanly speaking, and popularly speaking, our Old Testament would have begun with the Book of Joshua but for Josiah's tender heart. Had Josiah's heart not been tender toward the house of God, the temple would have been let lie in its utter ruin, till the buried Books of Moses would have been to this day the possession and the prey of the moles and the bats. Moses, says Matthew Henry, had a narrow turn for his life in Josiah's day. You do well to tremble at the thought of how near you were to the total loss of Moses and his law. And you are almost angry at Matthew Henry for telling you what you did not know before. But try your own hand on Moses and Josiah, and explain to me how you think you could have had Moses in your Bible but for Josiah; and, again, but for Josiah's tender heart. I defy you to do it. At any rate,-this is far more to your purpose-be sure of this, that both Moses, and David, and Paul, and John, and Jesus Christ Himself, are all as good as never written; they are as good as completely lost to you; till you take to them a tender heart, and out of that, a reformed and a repaired life. It will only be after your heart is tender and your life repaired that Hilkiah and Shaphan and Huldah the prophetess will be able to discover and to read to you either the law of Moses, or the grace and truth that has come by Jesus Christ. Till then, your Bible also is as good as buried under the ruin and rubbish of your fallen life. But when your heart is made tender by your father's sins and by your own; as also, by all God's providences towards you, and by all His grace in you; and when, in addition, your life has been made believing and obedient; then God's Word will more and more flash out continually upon you, a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. When the law of the Lord, as it was written in the newly disinterred Books of Moses, was read for the first time to Josiah, and while Shaphan the scribe was still reading it, Josiah rose up and rent to pieces his royal robe. After having looked for it, I do not read that Shaphan the scribe rent his robe, nor Ahikam the son of Shaphan, nor Hilkiah the priest, nor Achbor, nor Asahiah the servant of Josiah, nor Huldah the prophetess. Josiah alone rent his robe as the law was read. Their hearts were not so tender as was Josiah's heart. They had not come through so much from their youth up. The iron of God had not entered their hearts, and the law of God after it. The finding of the law was, no doubt, a great event in sacred archæology, as well as in sacred letters, to Shaphan and Hilkiah; but it did not come home to their hearts as it all came home to Josiah's heart. It was Moses speaking to them: but it was God Himself speaking to Josiah. It was an old book to them: but it was the Word of the Living God to him. He felt-such was his tender heart-that all he had attained to, and all he had reformed and done, was just nothing at all while so much remained to be and to do. He felt, as Isaiah felt, that all his righteousnesses were but so much filthy rags. If you have any real Interest in these things; if you care to go to the sources and are not indolently content with my poor paraphrase of these intensely interesting Scriptures: if you are a true student, a true sinner, and a true reformer of yourself and of the ruins that lie all around you-you will read 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles to yourselves, if only to see what a reformer both of himself and of his whole land Josiah was: and all that out of his own tender heart. And, best of all, how unsatisfied, and how tender-hearted he was with all he had done. All which, you must know, was the Holy Ghost in Josiah's tender heart before the Holy Ghost had yet been given. Has He even yet been given in that way to you? Do you rend your heart every day as you hear and read the Word of God? Or, are your clothes as whole, and your hearts, as were Hilkiah's and Shaphan's, and all the rest of the merely official and salaried servants of the palace and the temple? On the other hand, if all you have done only adds itself on to what you have not done: if your best works break your heart even more than your worst: if it is no rhetoric that all your righteousnesses are so much filthy rags: then, I wish much to assure you, that so it always is when the Holy Spirit accompanies the Word of God, either read or heard. Jeremiah-you all know the proverbial penitent, and the contrite heart, that Jeremiah was-but Jeremiah did not think that. He did not feel that. Oh that mine head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears! wept that hard-hearted and dry-eyed prophet. 'I can sin much,' cries holy Lancelot Andrewes to God every night, 'but I cannot repent much. Woe is me for my hard and dry heart. Give me, O God, a molten heart. Give tears. Give the grace of tears. Give me, O Lord, this great grace. None were so welcome to me. Not all the good things of this life are to be coveted by me in comparison with tears. Tears such as Thou didst give to David, and to Jeremiah, and to Josiah, and to Peter, and to her out of whom were cast seven devils. O God, give the chief of sinners some tears for his great sin, and for Thy great salvation.' And the Word of God has never yet been aright read to you, or aright heard and believed by you, unless you feel like Josiah, and Jeremiah, and Peter, and Andrewes every day. Your religion is not worth one straw, as true religion, unless it is every day breaking and making more tender your hard heart. Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep. But blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh for it all when all tears shall have been wiped from your eyes. Only, if you will have Josiah's tender heart in this hard-hearted world, you will have to pay a heavy price for it. Josiah paid a heavy price at the last for his tender heart. Josiah's tender heart, after it had done him all the good that we have seen, and more, at last it did him this terrible evil, that it lost him his life for this life. Josiah's tender heart was the cause of his too early death. The narrative is obscure and perplexed, and it lends itself to be read in more ways than one. But as I read Josiah's end it is something like this,-The king's tender heart led him out to do battle against the hereditary enemy of Israel and the oppressor and persecutor of the weak; in short, he went out against the Sultan of Turkey of that day. And the Judge of all the earth and the God of battles, for His own deep ends, let that battle go against Josiah, till Josiah said, Have me away, for I am wounded. Being unsuccessful, as we say, Josiah is almost universally blamed for letting his tender heart take up the sword. But I, for one, am quite content to leave Josiah's tender-hearted statesmanship to the arbitrament of the last day. I, for one, will applaud Josiah till my applause is reversed by Him whose tender heart took Him also to His death. And till Jesus Christ from the great white throne condemns and sentences Josiah for his too tender heart, I shall continue to read this to myself on his tombstone in the valley of Megiddo: -This, the remembrance of josiah is like the perfume of the apothecary, and his name is like music at a banquet of wine. for his pure and holy youth jehovah was his shield in the hour of temptation, till he behaved himself rightly in the conversion of his people, and till he took away all their abominations of iniquity. he directed his heart to the lord, and he established the worship of god: and all because his heart was so tender. the remembrance of josiah in judah and in jerusalem is like the perfume of the apothecary, and like music at a banquet of wine.

king of Judah, deserves particular mention on account of his wisdom and piety, and some memorable events that occurred in the course of his reign. He succeeded to the throne, upon the assassination of his father Amon, at the age of eight years, B.C. 640; and at a period when idolatry and wickedness, encouraged by his father's profligate example, very generally prevailed. Josiah, who manifested the influence of pious and virtuous principles at a very early age, began, in his sixteenth year, to project the reformation of the kingdom, and to adopt means for restoring the worship of the true God. At the age of twenty years he vigorously pursued the execution of the plans which he had meditated. He began with abolishing idolatry, first at Jerusalem, and then through different parts of the kingdom; destroying the altars which had been erected, and the idols which had been the objects of veneration and worship. He then proceeded, in his twenty-sixth year, to a complete restoration of the worship of God, and the regular service of the temple. While he was prosecuting this pious work, and repairing the temple, which had been long neglected, and which had sunk into a state of dilapidation, the book of the law, which had been concealed in the temple, was happily discovered. This was, probably, a copy of the Pentateuch, which had been lodged there for security by some pious priest in the reign of Ahaz or Manasseh. Josiah, desirous of averting from himself and the kingdom threatened judgments, determined to adhere to the directions of the law, in the business of reformation which he had undertaken; and to observe the festivals enjoined by Moses, which had been shamefully neglected. With this view he assembled all the elders of the people in the temple at Jerusalem; and, having ascended the throne, read the book of the Mosaic law, and then entered into a solemn covenant to observe the statutes and ordinances which it enjoined. To this covenant the whole assembly testified their consent. The ark was restored to its proper place; the temple was purified; idolatrous utensils were removed, and those appropriate to the worship of God substituted in their room. After these preparations, the passover was observed with singular zeal and magnificence. This took place in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign: but, in pursuing his laudable plans of reformation, he was resisted by the inveterate habits of the Israelites; so that his zealous and persevering efforts were ineffectual. Their degeneracy was so invincible, that the almighty Sovereign was provoked to inflict upon them those calamities which were denounced by the Prophet Zephaniah. In the thirty-second year of Josiah's reign, Pharaoh-Necho, king of Egypt, advanced with his army against Carchemish, a city situated on the river Euphrates. He was opposed by the king of Judah; so that a bloody battle ensued at Megiddo, in which Josiah received a mortal wound, which terminated in his death, after he had been conveyed to Jerusalem, in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, B.C. 609. His death was greatly lamented by all his subjects; and an elegy was written on the occasion by the Prophet Jeremiah, which is not now extant, 2 Kings 22, 23; 2 Chronicles 34, 35.

Son of Amon and great-grandson of Hezekiah, a pious king of Judah, who introduced great reforms in the temple worship, and in the religious character of the nation in general. No king set himself more earnestly to destroy every vestige of idolatry out of the land. Among other things, he defiled the altars of the idols at Bethel by burning upon them the bones from the tombs of their deceased priests; as had been foretold more than three centuries before, 1 Kings 13:2 . While cleaning and repairing the temple at his command, the priests found the temple copy of the five books of the law, perhaps the original copy from Moses' own hand. The sacred book was too much neglected in those days of declension; and even the pious Josiah seems to have been impressed by the closing chapters of Deuteronomy as though he had never read them before. To avert the judgments there threatened, he humbled himself before God, and sought to bring the people to repentance. He caused them to renew their covenant with Jehovah, and celebrated the Passover with a solemnity like that of its first institution. The repentance of the people was heartless, and did not avert the divine judgments. Josiah, however, was taken away from the evil to come. He met death in battle with Pharaohnecho, whose passage across his territory to attack the king of Assyria, Josiah felt obliged to resist. The death of this wise and pious king was deeply lamented, by the prophet Jeremiah and all the people, Zechariah 12:11 . He began to reign B. C. 641, at the age of eight years, and reigned thirty-one years, 2 Kings 22:1-23:37 2 Chronicles 34:1-35:27 .

("supported or healed by Jehovah".) 1. Son of Amon and Jedidab; began to reign at eight years old (641 B.C.) and reigned 31 years, to 610 B.C. (2 Kings 22 to 24; 2 Chronicles 34-35). The first 12 chapters of Jeremiah may refer to this period. At the age of 16, "while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father." Since Amon was wicked it is likely that Jedidah ("beloved"), like Lois and Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5), had early instilled into her child pious principles which bore fruit betimes, for in spite of the closing error which cost him his life the Holy Spirit, who remembers the graces and ignores the exceptional fails of believers, testifies "he declined neither to the right hand nor to the left." At the age of 20, in the 12th year of his reign, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places or Asherah, and images of the sun and Baal, and strewed their dust on the graves of their former worshippers. (See GRΟVΕS.) The events of the purging out idolatry, the temple repair, and the finding of the law, in Kings are arranged according to subject matter; but in Chronicles chronologically. The repairing of the temple recorded 2 Kings 22:3-7, in a period by itself, subordinate to the discovery of the law, in the 18th year of Josiah's reign, must have been chronologically before that date, since in that year the builders were already repairing and the money for the work had been collected by the Levites who kept the door. The abolishing of the idols must have begun before the people made the covenant (2 Kings 23:3). The discovery of the law Hilkiah quickened his zeal in abolishing them throughout the whole kingdom.(See HILKIAH.) In 2 Kings their suppression is narrated more minutely, the Passover celebration is summarized; in Second Chronicles their suppression is summarized (2 Chronicles 34:3-7; 2 Chronicles 34:33), but the Passover fully described (2 Chronicles 35:1-19). Josiah spared not even the high places which pious Hezekiah had left, nor those of Solomon in his apostasy, nor their priests (Chemarim), as Zephaniah 1:4 foretold; also Manasseh his grandfather's grove (Asherah) in the Lord's house (2 Kings 21:7; 2 Kings 23:6). He defiled Tophot in the valley of the children of Hinnom, where the people used to make their children pass through the fire to Moloch; and burned the chariots of the sun, and took away the stored horses, and destroyed Ahaz' altars on the housetop. (See HINNOM.) He fulfilled on the Bethel calf altar the prophecy of the man of God to Jeroboam, given three centuries before, and declaring his very name (as Isaiah did that of Cyrus ages before), but respected the prophet's sepulchre (1 Kings 13). His purgation thus extended to northern Israel as far as Naphtali, as well as to Judah. It was in repairing the temple that Moses' copy of the law, in his own handwriting, or at, least the original temple copy from his, was found. That the law was not previously unknown appears from the king's conduct on its discovery. He at once accepted its authority without mistrust as genuine and authentic; and read or caused it to be read in the ears of all the men of Judah, the priests and the prophets ("Levites" in 2 Chronicles 34:30). These too all accepted it, evidently because they and he had always recognized its truths generally (as his extirpation of idolatry already implied), but now he and they are brought into immediate contact, as it were, with Moses himself, through the original temple copy. His tenderness of heart (conscience) and his humbling himself before God with tears and rent garments brought God's promise through Huldah that he should be "gathered to his grave in peace," and "should not see the evil God was about to bring on" Jerusalem. It is true he fell in battle; but his remains were (and were the last) buried in his fathers' sepulchres "in peace," before seeing the enemy overthrow his capital (compare Jeremiah 34:5; Isaiah 57:1-2). "Because thou humblest thyself when thou heardest what I spake ... I also have heard thee." God is toward men what they are toward Him (Psalms 18:25-26). In this same year, the 26th of his age, the 18th of his reign, Josiah and his people entered into a covenant to keep the law of Jehovah with all their heart and all their soul (2 Kings 23:3; 2 Chronicles 34:31-33). His only fault was his supposition that by frustrating Necho's expedition to the Euphrates against Assyria he might avert God's predicted judgment on Judah. He scarcely realized the depth of Israel's apostasy, and hoped his reformation would enlist God's cooperation against the Egyptians. Nineveh was falling, if not already fallen. The Syrian princes, those independent as Josiah as well as Assyria's vassals, hoped now to be free from every foreign yoke; it was therefore necessary now to check the Egyptian, for though Necho was not marching against Judah but against Carchemish by Euphrates, Josiah knew that if once the Egyptians gained Coelosyria his independence would be gone. Necho appealed in vain to Josiah to leave him alone, as it was "against the house of his war" (his hereditary enemy) that he was marching, and that God commanded him, so that if Josiah interfered he would be "meddling with God." He thought the reference to God would have weight with Josiah. Of course Pharaoh's view of the Godhead was distinct from Josiah's. Josiah forgot his ancestor Solomon's inspired counsel (Proverbs 17:14; Proverbs 26:17). Josiah's reformation had not removed the deep seated evil (as Jeremiah and Zephaniah testify), so that the deceased Manasseh's sin, acting still far and wide though hiddenly now, awaited God's fierce anger on Jerusalem, as he was warned by God through Huldah (2 Kings 22:16-20). Hence Josiah was permitted, not without culpability on his part, to meddle in the ungodly world's wars, and so to fall, and with himself to withdraw the last godly ruler from the people henceforth given over to punishment (2 Kings 23:25-30). Necho came by sea to Palestine, landing at Accho. If he had come by Philistia Josiah would have met him there, and not allowed him to advance to Megiddo. There, in the great battle field of Palestine, Esdraelon plain, Necho, when they met face to face, slew him. Josiah was carried wounded from Hadadrimmon to die before be reached Jerusalem. He was buried with every honour, and Jeremiah composed a dirge, annually chanted at Hadadrimmon (not the "Lamentations" over Jerusalem after its fall). Compare Jeremiah 22:10 "weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him" (namely, Josiah slain at Megiddo or Magdolum in Herodotus); he is at peace. The church, while potent in the world for God, must not descend to the world's level and use the world's weapons for even a good end. Her controversy must first be with herself so long as corruption is in her, and then she must yield herself to God to be wielded by Him in the world for His glory. Antichrist superseding spiritual Babylon appropriately falls at Armageddon, i.e. the hill of Megiddo, the scene of godly Josiah's fall through descending to the world's carnal strifes as Babylon's ally (Revelation 16:14-18); the Jews' future mourning for Him whom they pierced, before God's interposition against all nations confederate against Jerusalem, answers to their mourning for Josiah at Megiddo (Zechariah 12:10-11). Josiah's greatness harmonizes with the parallel decline and fall of Assyria. Josiah exercised a sovereignty over Samaria and Galilee (2 Chronicles 34:6), besides Judah. In 633 B.C. the Medes attacked Nineveh. Then the Scythians (from whom Bethshan got its Greek name Scythopolis) desolated western Asia. Then Egypt cast off the Assyrian yoke, and Psammetik I attacked southern Syria. Finally, in 626 or 624 B.C., the Medes, Babylonians, and Susianians destroyed Nineveh and divided the empire.This gave Josiah the opportunity to free Judah from the Assyrian yoke which his grandfather had borne, and to enlarge his kingdom. (See for further illustrations of the Scripture harmony with secular history, NECHO.) 2. Josiah, son of Zephaniah cheen ("grace") (Zechariah 6:9; Zechariah 6:15). At his house in Jerusalem the three from Babylon were guests, from whom Zechariah by God's command took silver and gold to make crowns for the high priest Joshua's head.

1. Son and successor of Amon king of Judah: he reigned thirty-one years, B.C. 641-610. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. He began to reign when eight years old, and at the age of sixteen he sought after God. When he was about twenty years old he began to destroy all the high places, and groves, and images, and altars. He burnt the bones of the priests of Baalim upon their altars, as foretold in 1 Kings 13:2 . These things he did not only in Judah but also in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali. 2 Kings 22:1,2 ; 2 Chronicles 34:1-7 . Having purged the land of idolatry he set his hand to repair the house of the Lord. While this was in progress Hilkiah the priest found a copy of the law, which had evidently been lost sight of. It was read to the king, who was so moved on hearing its precepts, and knowing how they had been violated, that he rent his clothes, and sent to inquire of the Lord. The answer was that the evil and the curses found in the book should fall upon the people; but, because Josiah's heart was tender, and he had humbled himself, the judgement should not be executed in his days. He then assembled all the people at the temple; made them hear the law, and renew the covenant of obedience to Jehovah their God. And it is added that "all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers." 2 Kings 22:3-20 ; 2 Kings 23:1-20 ; 2 Chronicles 34:8-33 . In the eighteenth year of Josiah, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were kept. The ark was restored to its place in the temple, from which apparently it had been removed for some purpose. The testimony is that "there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet." Thus was Josiah enabled to recall the people to a sense of their responsibility, and to the means of their communion with God in the ordinance of the Passover. 2 Kings 23:21-28 ; 2 Chronicles 35:1-19 . In the thirty-first year of his reign, Josiah, perhaps from fidelity to former treaties with Assyria, went out to oppose the king of Egypt when he himself was in no way attacked; and, though warned 'from the mouth of God,' he persisted in his purpose. He disguised himself, yet he was wounded and died. Jeremiah lamented for him and the singers also in their songs. 2 Chronicles 35:20-26 . His reign was like the last shining of God's lamp in Judah: though he had zealously followed the Lord, the heart of the people was not changed. Jeremiah 3:6-10 : cf. Zephaniah. In Matthew 1:10,11 the name is JOSIAS. 2. Son of Zephaniah, at whose house Zechariah assembled the chief men of the captivity when Joshua the son of Josedech was crowned. Zechariah 6:10 .

After fifty-five years rule of the wicked Manasseh, plus two years rule of his equally wicked son Amon, Judah’s spiritual condition was the worst it had ever been (see MANASSEH, KING OF JUDAH). Josiah became king when his father Amon was assassinated (640 BC) but, being only eight years old at the time, he was for some years under the direction of government officials (2 Chronicles 33:25; 2 Chronicles 34:1). At the age of sixteen he became a believer in the one true God, and at the age of twenty he began religious reforms that lasted many years (2 Chronicles 34:2-5). Religious affairs One possible influence that led Josiah to begin his reforms was the preaching of the prophet Zephaniah (Zephaniah 1:1). Another prophet, Jeremiah, began his ministry in the early years of Josiah’s reforms (Jeremiah 1:1-2; Jeremiah 3:6). During the evil days of Manasseh, the temple in Jerusalem had been damaged and the law of God forgotten. In the sixth year of Josiah’s reforms, workmen repairing the temple found scrolls of this long-forgotten law. Josiah was shocked to find how far Judah had departed from God. He soon learnt that the nation was heading for judgment, but God encouraged him to continue his reforms, so that the people might turn to God and avoid the threatened judgment (2 Kings 22:3-20). With this encouragement from God, Josiah gathered Jerusalem’s leading citizens together at the temple, where the law was read to them. He gained their support in renewing the nation’s covenant with God and in helping his ongoing reforms (2 Kings 23:1-3). An increasingly confident Josiah then destroyed all false shrines and other idolatrous objects throughout the country, and centralized the nation’s public worship in Jerusalem, where it was under his supervision (2 Kings 23:4-14; 2 Kings 23:24; 2 Chronicles 34:6-7). He burnt the bones of the false prophets on their altar, after which he destroyed it (2 Kings 23:15-20; cf. 1 Kings 13:1-3; 1 Kings 13:29-32). Having removed idolatry, Josiah re-established the worship of Yahweh by keeping the Passover. This gave him the opportunity to organize the priests and Levites according to the order set out by David. He wanted to make sure that the entire worship procedure was conducted properly. The nation’s leading officials joined Josiah in providing large numbers of sacrificial animals for the festival. It was the most spectacular Passover ever seen in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 35:1-19). Political affairs One factor that assisted Josiah in carrying out such wide-sweeping reforms was the decline of Assyria. He was even able to extend his control into areas of the former northern kingdom that Assyria had conquered (2 Kings 23:15; 2 Kings 23:19; 2 Chronicles 34:6-7). Assyria eventually fell to Babylon in 612 BC. Pharaoh Necho of Egypt, fearing this expansion of Babylonian power, set out to attack Babylon. In doing so he had to pass through areas of Palestine that Judah controlled, so Josiah tried to resist him. The result was that Josiah was killed in battle (609 BC) and Judah fell temporarily under the overlordship of Egypt (2 Kings 23:29-30; 2 Chronicles 35:20-27). Josiah was only thirty-nine years old when he died (2 Kings 22:1). Those of his people who later suffered under the cruel hand of his son Jehoiakim looked back with gratitude on his compassion and justice (2 Chronicles 35:25; Jeremiah 22:15-19). Josiah won unqualified praise for his reforms (2 Kings 23:25), but few people were genuinely converted. Idolatrous ideas were so deeply rooted in the people’s hearts that judgment on the nation was inevitable (2 Kings 23:26-27).