Josiah Renews the Covenant
(2 Chronicles 34:29–33)
Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2Ch 34:29-332Ch 29:202Ch 30:2Deu 31:282Sa 6:1 And he went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people small and great—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. 2Ki 22:8Deu 31:10-13Rev 20:121Ki 8:91Sa 30:21Sa 5:92Ch 15:132Ch 17:9
So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant. 2Ki 11:142Ki 11:17Deu 13:42Ch 15:12-142Ch 23:132Ch 23:162Ch 29:102Ch 34:31-33
Josiah Destroys Idolatry
(1 Kings 13:1–10; 2 Chronicles 34:3–7)
Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 2Ki 21:32Ki 21:72Ch 33:32Ki 25:181Ch 24:4-191Ch 26:1-191Ki 12:291Ki 16:31
Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem—those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. Jer 44:17-192Ki 21:3-4Hos 10:5Jer 8:1-2
He brought the Asherah pole from the house of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and there he burned it, ground it to powder, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people. 2Ch 34:42Ki 23:151Ki 14:231Ki 16:332Ki 10:272Ki 21:7Deu 7:25Deu 9:21 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah. 1Ki 15:12Ezk 16:161Ki 14:24Exo 35:25-261Ki 22:462Ch 34:33Ezk 8:14Gen 19:4-5
Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which was to the left of the city gate. 1Ki 15:22Jos 21:171Ch 6:601Ki 19:3Gen 21:31Gen 26:23Isa 10:29Jdg 20:1 Although the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests. Ezk 44:10-141Sa 2:36Ezk 44:29-31Mal 2:8-9
He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom 1so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire 2to Molech. Isa 30:33Jer 19:6Jer 7:31-32Lev 18:21Jer 32:35Jos 15:8Deu 18:10Jer 19:11-13 And he removed from the entrance to the house of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court 3near the chamber of an official named Nathan-melech. And Josiah burned up the chariots of the sun. Ezk 8:162Ch 14:52Ch 34:42Ki 23:5Deu 4:19
He pulled down the altars that the kings of Judah had set up on the roof near the upper chamber of Ahaz, and the altars that Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD. The king pulverized them there 4and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley. 2Ki 21:5Jer 19:13Zep 1:52Ch 33:52Ch 33:152Ki 21:21-222Ki 23:42Ki 23:6
The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom 5the abomination of the Ammonites. 1Ki 11:51Ki 11:7Num 21:291Ki 11:331Sa 12:101Sa 7:4Jdg 10:6Jdg 11:24 He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones. Deu 7:5Exo 23:242Ki 23:162Ch 34:3-4Deu 7:25-26Ezk 39:12-16Jer 8:1-2Mat 23:27-28
He even pulled down the altar at Bethel, the high place set up by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. Then he burned 6the high place, ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole. 1Ki 14:162Ki 23:61Ki 12:281Ki 15:301Ki 21:222Ki 10:31 And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it, according to the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who had foretold these things. 7 1Ki 13:1-21Ki 13:32Jhn 10:35Mat 24:35
Then the king asked, “What is this monument I see?” 1Ki 13:11Ki 13:30-31
And the men of the city replied, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced these things that you have done to the altar of Bethel.”
“Let him rest,” said Josiah. “Do not let anyone disturb his bones.” 1Ki 13:311Ki 13:1-22
So they left his bones undisturbed, along with those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
Just as Josiah had done at Bethel, so also in the cities of Samaria he removed all the shrines of the high places set up by the kings of Israel who had provoked the LORD to anger. 2Ch 34:6-71Ki 12:311Ki 13:321Ki 16:332Ch 30:6-112Ch 31:12Ki 17:16-182Ki 17:9 On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem. 2Ki 11:182Ch 34:52Ki 10:25Exo 22:201Ki 13:21Ki 18:40Deu 13:5Isa 34:6
Josiah Restores the Passover
(2 Chronicles 35:1–19)
The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” Deu 16:1-8Num 9:2-52Ch 35:1-19Exo 12:3-20Lev 23:5-8Num 28:16-25
No such Passover had been observed from the days of the judges who had governed Israel through all the days of the kings of Israel and Judah. 2Ch 30:1-32Ch 30:13-202Ch 35:3-19 But in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed to the LORD in Jerusalem.
Furthermore, Josiah removed the mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to carry out the words of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD. Lev 19:312Ki 21:6Gen 31:19Deu 18:10-12Lev 20:271Sa 28:3-72Ch 34:14-192Ki 21:11
Neither before nor after Josiah was there any king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the Law of Moses. 2Ki 18:5Jer 29:131Ki 8:482Ki 23:3Deu 6:5Jhn 1:171Ki 15:51Ki 2:4
Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the fury of His burning anger, which was kindled against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke Him to anger. 2Ki 21:11-132Ki 24:42Ch 36:162Ki 22:16-172Ki 24:2Jer 15:1-4Jer 3:7-10 For the LORD had said, “I will remove Judah from My sight, just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’” 2Ki 18:112Ki 21:132Ki 17:182Ki 17:202Ki 21:4Jer 33:241Ki 8:291Ki 9:3
The Death of Josiah
(2 Chronicles 35:20–24)
As for the rest of the acts of Josiah, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 2Ki 20:20
At the end of Josiah’s reign, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt marched up to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went out to confront him, but Neco faced him and killed him at Megiddo. Jer 46:22Ch 35:20-24Jdg 5:19Zec 12:111Ki 4:122Ki 14:112Ki 14:82Ki 22:20
From Megiddo his servants carried his body in a chariot, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father. 2Ki 9:282Ch 36:1-41Ki 22:33-382Ch 35:242Ki 14:212Ki 21:24
Jehoahaz Succeeds Josiah
(2 Chronicles 36:1–4)
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 1Ch 3:152Ki 24:18Jer 22:11 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his fathers had done. 2Ki 21:2-72Ki 21:21-22
And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned Jehoahaz at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver 8and a talent of gold. 9 1Ki 8:652Ki 25:6Jer 39:5-6Jer 52:26-27Jer 52:9-102Ch 36:3-42Ki 18:142Ki 23:29 Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, where he died. Ezk 19:3-41Ch 3:152Ki 24:17Jer 22:11-12Dan 1:72Ch 36:3-4Gen 41:45Jos 18:18
So Jehoiakim paid the silver and gold to Pharaoh Neco, but to meet Pharaoh’s demand he taxed the land and exacted the silver and the gold from the people, each according to his wealth. 2Ki 23:332Ki 15:19-20
Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah
(2 Chronicles 36:5–8)
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. 2Ch 36:51Ch 3:15Jer 1:3Jer 26:1 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his fathers had done. 2Ch 28:22-252Ch 33:22-232Ch 33:4-102Ki 23:32Ezk 19:5-9Jer 22:13-17Jer 26:20-23Jer 36:23-26