Josiah's Reform

Biblical Text and Content

Josiah's Reform is recorded in 2 Kings 22–23 and 2 Chronicles 34–35. Josiah became king at the age of eight and reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem (2 Kings 22:1). The main elements of the reform are as follows.

• Discovery of the Book of the Law: In the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, while the Temple in Jerusalem was being repaired, the high priest Hilkiah found the Book of the Law and gave it to Shaphan the scribe. When Shaphan read the book before the king, the king tore his clothes (2 Kings 22:8-11). The king then sent messengers to the prophetess Huldah to seek God's will.
• Renewal of the covenant: The king gathered the people at the temple, read the Book of the Covenant in their hearing, and made a covenant to follow the LORD (2 Kings 23:1-3).
• Removal of idols: The king burned the vessels used in the worship of Baal and Asherah and defiled the high places (altars set up on elevated sites) so that they could no longer be used. He also defiled Tophet in the Valley of Hinnom, so that no one might again make a son or daughter pass through the fire to Molech (2 Kings 23:10). In addition, he tore down the altar at Bethel, and the text presents this as the fulfillment of the prophecy spoken by the man of God in 1 Kings 13:2 (2 Kings 23:15-16).
• Passover: The king commanded that the Passover be kept as written in the Book of the Law. The text states that no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges (2 Kings 23:21-23).

Background

During the long reign of Josiah's grandfather Manasseh, idolatry had penetrated even into the temple (2 Kings 21). Some scholars regard the waning of Assyrian power during this period as the political circumstance that made the reform possible. Many date Josiah's reign to approximately 640–609 BC. Josiah died at Megiddo after going out to confront Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt (2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 35:20-24).

Significance within Scripture as a Whole

Second Kings assesses Josiah in these words: "And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart … neither after him arose there any like him" (2 Kings 23:25). Immediately afterward, however, it records that because of the sins of Manasseh the LORD did not turn from his wrath (2 Kings 23:26-27). In the end, Judah was carried away into the Babylonian exile. Jeremiah was called in the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign (Jeremiah 1:2), and Zephaniah also prophesied in the days of Josiah (Zephaniah 1:1). In the New Testament, Josiah appears in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:10-11.

Interpretation and Debated Issues

• Identity of the Book of the Law: The text refers to the book simply as "the book of the law." Since the nineteenth century, many critical scholars have identified it with the core of Deuteronomy. They point out that elements of the reform, such as the centralization of worship and the Passover regulations, correspond to Deuteronomy 12 and 16, and some argue that the book was composed around this time. Conservative scholars hold that the law handed down from the time of Moses (either the entire Pentateuch or Deuteronomy) had been forgotten during the reign of Manasseh and was later rediscovered.
• Differences between Kings and Chronicles: Second Kings narrates the reform as though it took place all at once after the discovery of the Book of the Law in Josiah's eighteenth year. Second Chronicles, by contrast, records that Josiah began to seek God in his eighth year and began purging idolatry in his twelfth year (2 Chronicles 34:3).
• Depth of the reform: Jeremiah 3:6-10, set in the days of Josiah, says that Judah "hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly." On the basis of this passage, some interpreters conclude that the change among the people was only superficial.
• Huldah: In the debate over the ordination of women, the prophetess Huldah is sometimes cited in support of women's ministry. Opponents maintain that prophetic activity and church office are distinct.

In the Korean Church

Josiah's Reform is commonly used as a sermon text emphasizing the recovery of the Word and the renewal of the church, and it is frequently preached on Reformation Sunday.