The Books of Kings · Josiah
Please showme how.
Fifty-five years of the worst king Judah ever had, and then an eight-year-old climbing onto a throne his feet do not reach — who goes looking for how to do it right, and finds a book nobody knew was missing. Every scene below is a real frame from our animated film.
Manasseh reigned fifty-five years — the longest reign in Judah's history and the worst. He rebuilt the high places his father had destroyed, put altars to Baal and the host of heaven in the house of Yahweh, and gave up even his own son to them. He seduced them to do more evil than the nations did. Fifty-five years is long enough for everyone who remembered anything better to be gone. 2 Kings 21 : 1–9
He built altars in the house of Yahweh.
The years themselves go by without a word. What is left of them is a street: a city where people go indoors early, where a smoking altar on the hill has simply become part of the skyline, and where the doors of the temple of Yahweh stand shut with nobody left who remarks on it. Manasseh's long reign brought terrible harm to a great many innocent people, from one end of Jerusalem to the other. 2 Kings 21 : 16
Manasseh's son Amon reigned two years before his own servants turned against him. Which is how the throne of Judah came to an eight-year-old. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2 Kings 22 : 1
It takes one wordless moment to tell you everything: a child climbing up the side of a throne, arranging himself in the middle of it, and discovering that his feet do not reach the floor. He will sit in that chair for thirty-one years and be the best king Judah ever had. 2 Kings 22 : 1–2
His feet did not reach the floor.
Every man in the kingdom who mattered came in and put his face on the floor in front of a child who had been alive for eight years. The Bible says nothing at all about how that felt. Watch his hands — he has no idea what to do with them. 2 Kings 22 : 1
He did that which was right in Yahweh's eyes, and walked in all the way of David his father, and didn't turn away to the right hand or to the left. He had never met David. He had barely met a good example. Somebody in that room had to teach him — and by the look of it, he asked. 2 Kings 22 : 2
He did what was right — and turned neither way.
Somebody old enough to remember Hezekiah would have been in his eighties. One of them sits on the steps beside the boy at night, pointing out over a city full of shrines, telling him what it used to be — and what a king is actually for. 2 Kings 22 : 2
There was no scroll to read from. The book had been lost for so long that nobody in the palace knew it existed. Everything the boy king knew about his own God came out of the memory of old men, repeated until he had it — which is the only reason he recognised what he was hearing when it finally turned up. 2 Kings 22 : 8
In the eighteenth year of his reign he sent his secretary to the high priest with an instruction about money: count what has been collected, and give it to the workmen repairing the house — and no accounting shall be required of them, because they deal faithfully. A national restoration project that begins with the king trusting the builders. 2 Kings 22 : 3–7
While the repairs were going on, Hilkiah the high priest was going through rooms that had been shut since before he was born. The search takes a long, dusty while — shelf after shelf, jar after jar — and it needs to, because what comes next only lands once you have felt how long it has been since anyone looked in here. 2 Kings 22 : 8
Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in Yahweh's house.” The most important document in the nation's history, missing long enough that finding it is news. Nobody in the story is surprised that it was lost. That is the part that should stop you. 2 Kings 22 : 8
I have found the book of the law.
Shaphan read it himself first. Then he walked it across the city to the king, and the walk goes like a fuse burning: in eighteen verses' time this scroll is going to take the country apart and put it back together. 2 Kings 22 : 9–10
Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has delivered me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. Judging by his reaction, the part he heard included the curses — the long passage listing exactly what happens to a nation that does what Judah has spent fifty-five years doing. 2 Kings 22 : 10
When the king had heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. And then he said the sentence that makes him the best king in the book: “great is Yahweh's wrath that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us.” Not they deserved it. Us. 2 Kings 22 : 11–13
Great is the wrath — because our fathers didn't listen.
He could have had it read to them. He did not. The king went up to Yahweh's house, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant. The king himself, out loud, to everybody. 2 Kings 23 : 1–2
The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul… and all the people stood to the covenant. It did not save the country — Judah still fell, one reign later. It is still the last good day the Books of Kings ever record. 2 Kings 23 : 3
All the people stood to the covenant.
After the story
They lost the book in the building it was written for.
That is the detail worth sitting with. Not burned, not confiscated, not argued away — mislaid, in a storeroom, in the temple, for long enough that finding it counted as news and nobody in the story thinks to be embarrassed. Two generations had gone by without anyone noticing it was gone. And when it was finally read aloud, one man in the room recognised straight away that his whole country had been living against it — and said our fathers, not theirs.
Voices of the scroll · hover or tap to turn
Josiah
"…great is Yahweh's wrath that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book…"
— 2 Kings 22:13
Hilkiah
"I have found the book of the law in Yahweh's house."
— 2 Kings 22:8
The People
"The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh… and all the people agreed to the covenant."
— 2 Kings 23:3Josiah
How closely were you watching?
1. How old was Josiah when he became king?
"Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem" (2 Kings 22:1).
2. What was found during the temple repairs?
"I have found the book of the law in Yahweh's house," said Hilkiah — and nobody in the story is surprised that it had been missing (2 Kings 22:8).
3. What did Josiah do when he heard it read?
He had done nothing wrong himself and still counted himself in — "our fathers", not theirs (2 Kings 22:11–13).
4. Who read the book aloud to the whole nation?
"He read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant" — small and great, the whole city (2 Kings 23:1–2).
What this story teaches
Nobody is too young to start.
He was eight. He had no good example, no scroll, and a court that had spent fifty-five years doing the opposite. He asked the old men how, and did it.
"Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign…" 2 Kings 22:1Things get lost by neglect, not by attack.
Nobody destroyed the book. It went in a storeroom and two generations went by. The most valuable thing a people had was mislaid by simply not being picked up.
"I have found the book of the law in Yahweh’s house." 2 Kings 22:8"Our fathers", not "their fathers".
Josiah had personally done nothing wrong, and he still counted himself in. That sentence is why he is the best king in the book.
"There was no king like him before him, who turned to Yahweh with all his heart…" 2 Kings 23:25Read the scripture itself. 2 Kings 21 – 23 · World English Bible
2 Kings 22
1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.
2He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, and walked in all the way of David his father, and didn’t turn away to the right hand or to the left.
3In the eighteenth year of king Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to Yahweh’s house, saying,
4“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which is brought into Yahweh’s house, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people.
5Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of Yahweh’s house; and let them give it to the workmen who are in Yahweh’s house, to repair the damage to the house,
6to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the house.
7However there was no accounting made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully.”
8Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in Yahweh’s house.” Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
9Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hands of the workmen who have the oversight of Yahweh’s house.”
10Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has delivered a book to me.” Then Shaphan read it before the king.
11When the king had heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes.
12The king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying,
13“Go inquire of Yahweh for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is Yahweh’s wrath that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that which is written concerning us.”
14So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they talked with her.
15She said to them, “Yahweh the God of Israel says, ‘Tell the man who sent you to me,
16“Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read.
17Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.’”
18But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, tell him, “Yahweh the God of Israel says, ‘Concerning the words which you have heard,
19because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you,’ says Yahweh.
20‘Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place.’”’” So they brought this message back to the king.
2 Kings 23 : 1–30
1The king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
2The king went up to Yahweh’s house, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, with the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in Yahweh’s house.
3The king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people agreed to the covenant.
4The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of Yahweh’s temple all the vessels that were made for Baal, for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.
5He got rid of the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the army of the sky.
6He brought out the Asherah from Yahweh’s house, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast its dust on the graves of the common people.
7He broke down the houses of the male shrine prostitutes that were in Yahweh’s house, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
8He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.
9Nevertheless the priests of the high places didn’t come up to Yahweh’s altar in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.
10He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
11He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of Yahweh’s house, by the room of Nathan Melech the officer, who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12The king broke down the altars that were on the roof of the upper room of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of Yahweh’s house, and beat them down from there, and cast their dust into the brook Kidron.
13The king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon.
14He broke in pieces the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with men’s bones.
15Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah.
16As Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to Yahweh’s word which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.
17Then he said, “What monument is that which I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.”
18He said, “Let him be! Let no one move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.
19All the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Yahweh to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
20He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
21The king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.”
22Surely there was not kept such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
23but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, this Passover was kept to Yahweh in Jerusalem.
24Moreover Josiah removed those who had familiar spirits, the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in Yahweh’s house.
25There was no king like him before him, who turned to Yahweh with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; and there was none like him who arose after him.
26Notwithstanding, Yahweh didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him.
27Yahweh said, “I will also remove Judah out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”
28Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
29In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and king Josiah went against him; and Pharaoh Necoh killed him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.
30His servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.
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