2 Chronicles 34:1–7

Read the passage.

The boy-king Josiah was the last king of Judah who was faithful to the Lord. We call him a boy-king because he was only eight years old when he began to reign, but as boys are wont to do, he grew up. What’s interesting about this account of his reign is that the chronology of important events is preserved. We are told that Josiah “began to seek the God of David” in the eighth year of his reign, when he was sixteen. In the twelfth year, when he was twenty, he took down the idols, altars, and high places of idol worship throughout Judah.

Contrast this with 2 Kings 22–23. That account starts with the book of the Law being found in the eighteenth year, and makes it sound like that was the catalyst for all of the reforms that Josiah made throughout the land. The notes in the Reformation Study Bible say this is because the emphasis in 2 Kings is geography, rather than timeline.

Considering that the temple of the Lord had been effectively shut down at least twice in Judah’s history, it is not too surprising that the Torah had been lost for a period of time. What is more surprising is Josiah’s love of the Lord without access to it. Possibly he remembered what his grandfather Manasseh taught him when he was very young. Certainly he would know what his father Amon was like before he was killed, and he had that negative example to learn from. However nothing really explains what his heart was like for the first eight years of his reign and why he seems to all of a sudden begin making religious reforms. Certainly it was the grace of the Lord working in him, but I’m still curious what means were used.

Knowledge of You will never completely disappear, no matter how wicked people become.