Josiah, the Boy King

“Neither before nor after Josiah was there any king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart.” — 2 Kings 23:25

Can you imagine being a king when you are eight years old? That’s how old Josiah was when he became king of Judah.

Before Josiah, there had been many bad kings. His own grandfather, Manasseh, had been one of the worst. The people had forgotten God and worshipped idols. They had even put idols inside the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.

But Josiah was different. As he grew up, he did what was right in God’s eyes, just like his famous ancestor, King David, had done long before. He didn’t turn away to the right or to the left.

When Josiah was twenty-six years old, he decided to repair the temple. It had been neglected for years. So he sent money to pay carpenters and builders and stonemasons.

While they were working, the high priest, Hilkiah, found something amazing in the temple. “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord!” he said. It was a scroll with God’s laws written on it, the laws God had given through Moses. It had been lost for so long that people had forgotten what it said.

A man called Shaphan took the scroll to the king and read it out loud to him.

When King Josiah heard the words of God’s law, he tore his clothes. He realised how far the people had wandered from God, and how much they had disobeyed Him. “Go and ask the Lord about what is written in this book,” he told his officials. “God must be very angry with us, because our fathers didn’t obey the words of this book.”

So they went to a prophetess called Huldah. She told them God’s message: God would punish the people for their sin, but not in Josiah’s lifetime, because Josiah’s heart was soft and he had humbled himself before the Lord when he heard God’s words.

Then King Josiah called all the people of Judah and Jerusalem together, from the least to the greatest. He stood by a pillar in the temple and read the whole book out loud to them. And he made a promise to God: to follow the Lord and keep His commandments with all his heart and all his soul. And all the people made the promise too.

Then Josiah got to work. He threw all the idols out of the temple and burned them. He broke down the altars to false gods all over the land. And he told the people to celebrate the Passover, just as the book said. There hadn’t been a Passover like it since the days of the judges!

The Bible says there was never a king like Josiah, before or after, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength.

Read it in your Bible: 2 Kings 22–23:25

Dear God, thank you for the Bible, your Word. Help me to listen to it and obey it with all my heart, like Josiah did. Thank you that even children can follow you. Amen.