The Bible describes him as a righteous king in
2 Kings 22:2, "He did what was pleasing to
GOD and he followed all the ways of his forefather
David; he did not deviate to the right or to the left." A similar phrase appears in
2 Chronicles 34:2. He is also one of the kings mentioned in the
Gospel of Matthew, one of the two
genealogies of Jesus in the
New Testament (cf.
Matthew 1:10–
11).
Family According to the biblical narrative, Josiah was the son of King Amon of Judah and
Jedidah, daughter of
Adaiah of
Bozkath. His grandfather
Manasseh was one of the kings blamed for turning away from the worship of
Yahweh. Manasseh adapted the Temple for
idolatrous worship. Josiah's great-grandfather was King
Hezekiah, a noted reformer also respected by the biblical writers as having "done what was right in the sight of the
LORD, as David had done." in
2 Kings 18:3 and
2 Chronicles 29:2. According to
1 Chronicles 3:15,
2 Kings 23:31 and 36,
2 Kings 24:18, Josiah had four sons: Johanan and Eliakim (born c. 634 BC), whose mother was
Zebidah, the daughter of
Pedaiah of Ruma; and Shallum (633/632 BC) and Mattanyahu (c. 618 BC), whose mother was
Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of
Libnah. Eliakim had his name changed by the Saïte pharaoh Necho II to
Jehoiakim according to
2 Kings 23:34. Shallum, his third son, succeeded Josiah as
Jehoahaz according to
1 Chronicles 3:15 and
Jeremiah 22:11. Eliakim succeeded Shallum as
Jehoiakim in
2 Chronicles 36:4, and he was succeeded by his son
Jeconiah in
2 Chronicles 36:8. Jeconiah was succeeded to the throne by his uncle Mattanyahu, under the name
Zedekiah in
2 Kings 24:17. Zedekiah was the last king of Judah before the kingdom was conquered by the
Neo-Babylonian Empire and the
Babylonian captivity began.
Religious reform The
Second Book of Chronicles records that Josiah was eight years old when he became king. In the eighth year of his reign, he "began to seek the God of his father David" and in the twelfth year of that reign he began a program of destruction of
Baalist altars and images throughout Jerusalem and Judah according to
2 Chronicles 34:1-3.
The Chronicler records in detail the execution of this program. In contrast, the account in 2 Kings begins with a restoration of
Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, which both accounts say was initiated in the eighteenth year of his reign. of
Solomon's Temple depicted in a 3-D computer model Josiah ordered
Hilkiah, the
High Priest, to use the tax money collected over the years to renovate the Temple. While Hilkiah was clearing the treasure room of the Temple, he allegedly discovered a scroll described in
2 Kings 22:8 as "a scroll of the Teaching" and in
2 Chronicles 34:14 as "the book of the Law of the LORD given by
Moses". The phrase "scroll of the Teaching" () in 2 Kings 22:8 is identical to the phrase used in
Joshua 1:8 and
8:34 to describe the sacred writings
Joshua had received from
Moses. The book is not identified in the text, but scholarly consensus holds that this was either a copy of the
Book of Deuteronomy or a text that became a part of Deuteronomy. The story of the Temple restoration is based on those ordered by an earlier Judean king,
Joash in
2 Kings 12, who ruled c. 836 – 796 BC. Hilkiah brought this scroll to Josiah's attention. Josiah consulted the prophetess
Huldah, who assured him that the evil foretold in the document for non-observance of its instructions, would come, but not in his day; "because", she said, "thine heart was tender and thou didst humble thyself before the Lord". Some scholars have rejected the entire historicity of these accounts, while others have defended the historical existence of a religious reform under Josiah's reign.
Book of the Law The
Hebrew Bible states that the priest
Hilkiah found a "Book of the Law" in the temple during the early stages of Josiah's temple renovation. Hilkiah then gave the scroll to his secretary
Shaphan, who took it to King Josiah. According to the Bible, King Josiah then changed his leadership entirely, entering into a new covenant with God. He wiped out rival cults that had formed within his land. He, along with his people, then entered into this new covenant with God to keep the
commandments. For much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was widely accepted among biblical scholars that this "Book of the Law" was an early version of the Book of Deuteronomy, but recent scholarship views it as a largely legendary narrative of one of the earliest stages in the creation of the Deuteronomistic work.
William G. Dever, for example, argues that the Book of the Law was actually composed by orthodox Yahwist priests, who attributed it to the legendary figure of
Moses and then hid it in the Temple, where it would be dramatically discovered; in this way, a "miraculous new Word from
Yahweh" would seem to have appeared, giving Judah a chance to redeem itself and save itself from the advance of the
Neo-Babylonian Empire. Many scholars view the entire core narrative, from Joshua to 2 Kings, as a Deuteronomistic History (DtrH) written during Josiah's reign. In fact, some recent European theologians even go so far as to posit that most of the
Torah and Deuteronomistic History was composed and finalized several centuries later, during the
Persian rule. However, biblical scholars are coming to believe that the Deuteronomistic History was composed using other earlier sources, including a brief chronicle of king's names, age at the beginning of their reign, and their mother's names.
Prophets and King Josiah According to rabbinic interpretation,
Huldah said to the messengers of King Josiah, "Tell the man that sent you to me ..." (), indicating by her unceremonious language that for her Josiah was like any other man. The king addressed her, and not Jeremiah, because he thought that women are more easily stirred to pity than men, and that therefore the prophetess would be more likely than Jeremiah to intercede with God in his behalf. Huldah was a relative of Jeremiah, both being descendants of Rahab by her marriage with Joshua. While Jeremiah admonished and preached repentance to the men, she did the same to the women. Huldah was not only a prophetess, but taught publicly in the school according to the
Targum of
2 Kings 22:14. It is doubtful whether "the Gate of Huldah" in the
Second Temple (Middot 1:3) has any connection with the prophetess Huldah; it may have meant "Cat's Gate"; some scholars, such as
Rashi, associate the gate with Huldah's schoolhouse. The prophetic activity of Jeremiah began in the reign of Josiah; he was a contemporary of his relative the prophetess Hulda and of his teacher Zephaniah. These three prophets divided their activity: Hulda spoke to the women and Jeremiah to the men in the street, while Zephaniah preached in the synagogue. When Josiah restored the true worship, Jeremiah went to the exiled ten tribes, whom he brought to Israel under the rule of the pious king. Although Josiah went to war with Egypt against the prophet's advice, Jeremiah knew that this was an error by the otherwise pious king; and later he bitterly laments the king's death: the fourth chapter of Lamentations beginning with a dirge on Josiah. King Josiah, who foresaw the impending national catastrophe, concealed the Ark and its contents (including Aaron's rod, the vial of
manna and the anointing oil) within a hidden chamber which had been built by
Solomon] (Tosefta, Sotah, 13a); cf.
Babylonian Talmud (
Kereithot 5b) and their whereabouts will remain unknown until, in the
Messianic age, the prophet
Elijah shall reveal them (Mekhilta l.c.).
Foreign relations When Josiah became king of Judah in about 641 or 640 BC, the international situation was in flux. The
Assyrian Empire was beginning to disintegrate, the
Neo-Babylonian Empire had not yet risen to replace it, and
Egypt to the west was still recovering from Assyrian rule. In this power vacuum,
Jerusalem was able to govern itself for the time being without foreign intervention. In the spring of 609 BC, Pharaoh
Necho II led a sizable army up to the
Euphrates River to aid the
Neo-Assyrian Empire, which was collapsing under the attacks of the
Medes and the
Neo-Babylonian Empire. Taking the coast route
Via Maris into
Syria at the head of a large army, consisting mainly of mercenaries; and supported by his Mediterranean fleet along the shore, Necho passed the low tracts of
Philistia and
Sharon. However, the passage over the ridge of hills which shuts in on the south of the great
Jezreel Valley was blocked by the Judean army led by Josiah. The reason for Josiah attempting to halt the Egyptian campaign is not known, but he may have considered that the Assyrians and Egyptians were weakened by the death of pharaoh
Psamtik I only a year earlier (610 BC): Psamtik having been appointed and confirmed by Assyrian kings
Esarhaddon and
Ashurbanipal. Josiah attempted to block the advance at
Megiddo, where a fierce
battle was fought and Josiah was killed. Necho then joined forces with the Assyrian
Ashur-uballit II and crossed the Euphrates to lay siege to
Harran. The combined forces failed to capture the city, and Necho retreated to northern Syria.
Death There are two accounts of Josiah's death in the Bible, both involving the
Battle of Megiddo (609 BC). 2 Kings merely states that Necho II met Josiah at
Megiddo and killed him in
23:29, whereas the
2 Chronicles 35:20–27 gives a lengthier account and states that Josiah was fatally wounded by Egyptian archers and was brought back to Jerusalem to die. His death in the latter account was attributed to his "not listening to what Necho had said at God's command" when Necho said, "What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the house with which I am at war; and God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, so that he will not destroy you." According to ,
Jeremiah wrote a lament for Josiah's death. The account in Chronicles is considered unreliable by some scholars, as it is based on the description of the death of a different king, Ahab, in 1 Kings, and it meets the Chronicler's religious agenda to attribute the death of a righteous king to some form of sin. Some researchers have concluded from the account in Kings that Josiah did not meet Necho in battle but was summoned by Necho as a vassal, investigated, and beheaded for failing to pay the correct tribute or tax to Egypt.
Rabbinic literature remarks on Josiah's piety and his father, Amon: It also states that his death happened because, despite his sincere religious reforms, he had in fact been deceived. He refused to heed Jeremiah, thinking that no sword would pass through Judah. He was struck by 300
hurled darts; he made no complaint except to acknowledge "The Lord is righteous, for I rebelled against His commandment." == Sources ==