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Top 10 Amazing Facts about King Josiah

Josiah hearing the book of Law.

Josiah is a biblical figure whose literal meaning is “healed by Yahweh” or “Jehovah heals” or “sustained by Yah.” He was Judah’s 16th king.

He instituted major religious reforms, according to the Hebrew Bible, by prohibiting official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Most biblical scholars credit Josiah with establishing or compiling important Hebrew scriptures during the “Deuteronomic reform” that occurred during his reign.

1. King Josiah’s family

Josiah was the son of King Amon. His grandfather Manasseh was one of the kings blamed for abandoning Yahweh worship.

Manasseh modified the Temple to accommodate idolatrous worship. King Hezekiah, Josiah’s great-grandfather, was a noted reformer who was also regarded by biblical writers as having “done what was right in the sight of the Lord as David had done.” 

Johanan and Eliakim, whose mother was Zebidah and Mattanyahu and Shallum  whose mother was Hamutal were his sons.

2. Josiah, a king at 8 years of age

Following Solomon’s death, the people of God were divided into two kingdoms: Israel and Judah. The Assyrians had captured Israel during Hezekiah’s reign. Although Judah had some good kings, it was often corrupt and was following in the footsteps of the rebellious Israel.

Josiah inherited a corrupt kingdom that had turned away from the Lord when he was eight years old. His father, Amon, had only been king of Israel for two years before being assassinated by his servants.

3. King Josiah reigns in Judah

Destruction of the temple of Baal. Photo by Phillip Galle-

In the eighth year of King Josiah’s reign, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year, he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of high places.

King Josiah shattered the Asherim, as well as the carved and metal images, and made dust of them, scattering it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He also cleansed Judah and Jerusalem by burning the bones of the idol priests on the altars of the idols.

He cut down all the incense altars in the cities of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around, and beat the Asherim and the images into powder, and broke down the altars throughout the land of Israel. After all that, he then went back to Jerusalem.

4. King Josiah orders the repair of the temple

Shapan reading the scroll to Josiah. Photo by Phillip Galle-

One of King Josiah’s goals was to clean up and repair the Lord’s temple. Shaphan, King Josiah’s royal assistant, was dispatched to the Lord’s temple to inform the priests that the temple needed to be cleaned. Shaphan directed the High Priest, Hilkiah, to collect the temple funds donated by the people. The funds were to be distributed to those who would complete all the repair work. 

Everyone put in a lot of effort to repair and clean the temple. Hilkiah discovered something in the temple and took it to Shaphan. It was written on a scroll. This scroll was truly unique. It explained everything about God’s Law. Some laws contained in the scroll were forgotten by the people. Hilkiah instructed Shaphan to read it because it contained God’s word.

Shaphan recognized the scroll’s significance when he read it. He reported to King Josiah, “The money has been given to the temple workers and supervisors.” And the priest Hilkiah gave me this scroll.”  Shaphan read the scroll to King Josiah.

5. King Josiah tore his robes

King Josiah tore his robes when he heard the words of the Law. He said to Hilkiah, Ahikam, Abdon , Shaphan, and Asaiah, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who remain in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the book that has been found.  Because our fathers did not keep the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book, the Lord’s wrath has been poured out on us.”

6. King Josiah observes the Passover

Josiah observes Passover. Photo by Philip Galle-

In Jerusalem, King Josiah observed the Passover to the Lord. The Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. He assigned the priests to their responsibilities and encouraged them to serve in the Lord’s temple.

King Josiah provided a total of thirty thousand sheep and goats for the Passover offerings, as well as three thousand cattle, all from the king’s own possessions. His officials also gave freely to the people, as well as the priests and Levites. The administrators of God’s temple gave the priests twenty-six hundred Passover offerings and three hundred cattle.

The Passover had not been observed in Israel in this manner since the days of the prophet Samuel, and none of Israel’s kings had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present with the people of Jerusalem. 

7. King Josiah made a covenant with the Lord

The Book of Law read before the people. Photo by Phillip Galle-

The king then dispatched and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He then went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and Levites, and all the people. He read to them all the words from the Book of the Covenant that had been discovered in the Lord’s house.

The king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, vowing to follow the Lord and keep His commandments, testimonies, and statutes with all his heart and soul, to carry out the words of the covenant written in the book of the Law. 

8. Josiah ruled over both Judah and Israel

Since Jeremiah had brought the ten exiled tribes of the north back to Israel and made them subject to him, Josiah was the only monarch since Solomon to rule over both Judah and Israel. The mourning for him was intense, and Jeremiah remembered him in Lamentations (4:20).

9. The death of King Josiah

The death of King Josiah. Photo by Antonio Zanchi-

The Bible contains two accounts of Josiah’s death. The Second Book of Kings simply states that Necho II met Josiah at Megiddo and killed him (2 Kings 23:29), whereas the Second Book of Chronicles (2 Chronicles 35:20–27) provides a more detailed account, stating that Josiah was fatally wounded by Egyptian archers and brought back to Jerusalem to die.

10. King Josiah’s succession

Following the defeat in Harran, Pharaoh Necho returned to Egypt, leaving a sizable force behind. On his way back, Necho discovered that Jehoahaz had succeeded his father Josiah. (2 Kings 23:31) Necho deposed Jehoahaz, who had only been king for three months, and installed his older brother, Jehoiakim, in his place. Necho imposed a levy of a hundred talents of silver (approximately 334 tons or 3.4 metric tons) and a talent of gold on Judah (about 75 pounds or about 34 kilograms). Necho then took Jehoahaz as a prisoner back to Egypt. 

The defeat of Josiah at Megiddo effectively marked the end of the Davidic line’s rule, because not only were Josiah’s successors short-lived, but Judah’s relative independence had crumbled in the face of a resurgent Egypt bent on regaining its traditional control of the region, as well as the imminent rise of the Babylonian empire, which also sought control.