Articles
Person Of The Week: Josiah
The last, best hope for Judah to escape the wrath of God via deportation was King Josiah. Though Josiah was only eight years old when he began his reign, he had good advisers and teachers around him: “For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images” (II Chron. 34:3).
After this reform began, it was another six years before an extensive refurbishment of the temple was undertaken. During this work, a copy of the Law was found amid the clutter and the true extent of Judah’s ungodliness was realized.
When the documents were read to the young king, he was mortified and sought further direction from God (II Chron. 34:19-21). God revealed through the prophetess Huldah that Josiah was acceptable because of his penitent spirit, but the people as a whole already were doomed because of their wickedness and steadfast refusal to repent (II Chron. 34:24-28).
The life of this good and godly king was cut short in an ill-advised battle with the Egyptian army marching through Canaan. With his untimely death, the nation swiftly slid into a tailspin from which it never recovered.
