Josiah’s Reforms throughout Judah and Israel

2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chronicles

If ever there was a point in biblical history when the worship of Yahweh seemed all but extinguished, it was during the years leading up to King Josiah’s birth. Yet it was against this incredibly dark backdrop that the Lord raised up Josiah of Judah to bring about one of the greatest spiritual reforms his nation had ever seen. Josiah was the grandson of Manasseh, one of the most wicked and idolatrous kings of Judah (2 Kings 21:1-9; 2 Chronicles 33:1-9), though Manasseh later repented (2 Chronicles 33:12-19), and the son of Amon, another wicked, idolatrous king (2 Kings 21:18-22; 2 Chronicles 33:20-23). After his father’s death, Josiah became king at the young age of eight, so perhaps it was this lack of influence from his wicked father during some of his most formative years as a leader that enabled him to become such a force for spiritual renewal throughout Judah. Whatever the reason for his spiritual fervor, Josiah’s passion also coincided with a period of Assyrian decline, which allowed him to expand his renewal even to the lands once ruled by the northern kingdom of Israel. Josiah began his reforms by commissioning repairs to be made to the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. During these repairs, the book of the law, likely the book of Deuteronomy, was found in the Temple and brought to Josiah. When Josiah read the book, he tore his clothes in anguish over the punishment that surely awaited the nation for their disobedience to the laws of Moses. He called for all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to gather by the pillar of the Temple, and he read the law to them as well and led them to establish a new covenant to follow the laws of Moses. Josiah then began a great purge of idolatry throughout Jerusalem, Judah, and even Israel. Utensils used for pagan worship were removed from the Temple in Jerusalem and burned in the Kidron Valley, and their ashes were carried to Bethel. The image of Asherah was also removed and burned in the Kidron Valley, and the remains were ground to dust and spread over graves of the common people. The houses of the male prostitutes in the Temple area were also broken down. The horses and chariots dedicated to the sun by the kings of Judah were removed, and the chariots were burned. The altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz and the altars that Manasseh had made in Temple courtyard were pulled down and broken in pieces, and the rubble was thrown into the Kidron Valley. A place called Topheth in the Hinnom Valley was defiled so that no one would make a son or daughter pass through fire as an offering to Molech. Just east of Jerusalem the high places built by King Solomon for his pagan wives on the Mount of Corruption (also called the Mount of Olives; 1 Kings 11:7-8) were defiled. Josiah’s reforms throughout Judah included putting away the mediums, wizards, teraphim, idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land. At Bethel he tore down the altar and the high place erected by Jeroboam son of Nebat. He burned the high place, crushing it to dust, and burned the sacred pole. There he also saw tombs of people who must have been associated with the pagan rituals there, so he removed the bones and burned them on the altar, thus defiling it, as was prophesied years earlier (1 Kings 13:1-10). Josiah then extended his reforms to lands that formerly belonged to Israel but were now directly governed by Assyria. Throughout the towns of Samaria all the shrines of the high places were removed, the priests of the high places were slaughtered on the pagan altars, and their bones were burned on them. Throughout the rest of the land of Israel and Judah–in Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali–Josiah also broke down the altars, ground the sacred poles and images into powder, and demolished all the incense altars. When Josiah returned to Jerusalem, he celebrated the Passover in a way that exceeded all the Passover celebrations since the time of the Judges.