Josiah

**Josiah** (/dʒoʊˈsaɪ.ə/ or /dʒəˈzaɪ.ə/) was the sixteenth king of Judah (c. 640–609 BCE) who instituted major religious reforms. Josiah is credited by most biblical scholars with having established or compiled important Hebrew scriptures during the "Deuteronomic reform" which probably occurred during his rule. Josiah became king of the Kingdom of Judah at the age of eight, after the assassination of his father, King Amon, and reigned for thirty-one years, from 641/640 to 610/609 BCE.

## Death and Succession

There are two accounts of Josiah's death in the Bible. The Second Book of Kings merely states that Necho II met Josiah in battle at Megiddo and killed him (2 Kings 23:29), whereas the second book of Chronicles (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 him "not listening to what Necho had said at God's command..." when Necho stated: "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 2 Chronicles 35:25, 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.

According to Louis Ginzberg's *Legends of the Jews* (1909), remarks on Josiah's piety and the death of his father Amon: "For repentance he was given no time, for death cut him off in the fullness of his sinful ways. ... That the full measure of punishment was not meted out to Amon-his evil deeds were such that he should have forfeited his share in the World to come-was due to the circumstance of his having a pious and righteous son"; also that Josiah's death was brought about because despite his sincere religious reform, he had in fact been deceived; thus he refused to heed the Prophet Jeremiah, thinking that no sword would pass through the Land of Israel. He was struck by 300 darts; he made no complaint except to acknowledge "The Lord is righteous, for I rebelled against His commandment.

### **Succession**

After the setback in Harran, Necho left a sizeable force behind, and returned to Egypt. On his return march, Necho found that Jehoahaz had been selected to succeed his father, Josiah. (2 Kings 23:31) Necho deposed Jehoahaz, who had been king for only three months, and replaced him with his older brother, Jehoiakim. Necho imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver (about 3​3⁄4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons) and a talent of gold (about 75 pounds or about 34 kilograms). Necho then took Jehoahaz back to Egypt as his prisoner. The defeat of Josiah at Megiddo essentially represents the end of the rule of the Davidic line, since not only were Josiah's successors short-lived, but also Judah's relative independence had crumbled in the face of a resurgent Egypt bent on regaining its traditional control of the region, and the imminent rise of the Babylonian empire which also sought control.

Necho had left Egypt in 609 BCE to relieve the Assyrian Harran under Babylonian siege. Josiah's actions may have provided aid to the Babylonians by engaging the Egyptian army.

## Righteousness

**Out of all of the kings of Judah, only Josiah did well.** All of the others after David did “evil in the sight of the Lord”, as the King James Version puts it. Of Josiah it was said that “he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.” Yet Josiah was only 8 years old when he began to reign, and lived only 31 years as King. He died in battle against Pharaoh Nechoh of Egypt, perhaps appropriately at Megiddo.

There is a lesson, I believe, in the story of Josiah. First, he may be contrasted to his evil ancestor, Hezekiah. While Josiah did well he was taken at a young age. Hezekiah did evil, got sick, and he was given a space of 15 years longer to live after he turned to Yahweh. I think the evil, when and if they repent, are given time to be tested of their repentance. Then again Josiah doing well, may have been taken by Yahweh because the people did not deserve an excellent ruler. Josiah forced them to clean their act up. Look at western society today, do our people not get the government they deserve?