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[[File:Josiah hearing the book of the law.jpg|thumb|240px|'''Josiah''' hears the "Book of Law" found by the priest Hilkiah in the [[Temple of Jerusalem]]]]
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'''Josiah''' (יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ, Yošiyyáhuv, "supported of the Lord") was an important king of [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] whom the [[Bible]] praises as the greatest king since [[David]]. He was the son of King [[Amon of Judah|Amon]], and the grandson of King [[Manasseh]].
  
    '''Josiah''' or '''Yoshiyahu''' ('''יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ''' "supported of [[Tetragrammaton|the Lord]]", [[Standard Hebrew]] '''Yošiyyáhu''', [[Tiberian Hebrew]] '''Yôšiyyāhû''') was king of [[kingdom of Judah|Judah]], and son of [[Amon of Judah|Amon]] and [[Jedidah]], the daughter of [[Adaiah]] of [[Bozkath]]. His grandfather was King [[Manasseh]], who had turned from the Jewish religion, even adapting the Temple for worship that was considered idolatrous by faithful Jews. Josiah is credited by some historians with having established Jewish scripture in written form as a part of the Deuteronomic reform that occurred during his rule.
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Josiah instituted a major religious reform that centralized the worship of the Hebrew God [[Yahweh]] in [[Jerusalem]] and strongly repressed pagan religions. He also attempted to extend his control beyond Judah in a drive to reunify the former northern [[Kingdom of Israel]] with his own. Josiah died as a result of a wound suffered in battle against Egyptian forces at [[Megiddo]], at the age of 39. The dates of Josiah's reign are roughly 640-609 B.C.E. Three of his sons and one of his grandsons reigned after him. His son [[Zedekiah]], having reigned after Josiah's grandson [[Jehoiachin]], was the last king of royal line of David.
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The chief sources of Josiah's life are [[Kings, Books of|2 Kings]] 22-23, and [[Chronicles, Books of|2 Chronicles]] 34-35. Archaeologists have recovered a number of "scroll-style" stamps dating to his reign. Josiah is credited by some historians with having played a key role in establishing the tradition of Jewish scripture.
  
[[William F. Albright]] has dated his reign to [[640 B.C.E.]]-[[609 B.C.E.]], while [[E. R. Thiele]] offers the dates [[641 B.C.E.]]-[[609 B.C.E.]]. The chief sources of his reign are ''[[Books of Kings|2 Kings]]'' 22-23, and ''[[Books of Chronicles|2 Chronicles]]'' 34-35; ''[[1 Esdras]]'' 1 clearly a copy of the relevant portion of ''2 Chronicles''. Archaeologists have recovered a number of "scroll-style" stamps dating to his reign.
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==Josiah in the Bible==
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The biblical authors view Josiah as the greatest of all kings in his devotion to God:
  
==Judah's condition at his accession==
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<blockquote>Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. (2 Kings 23:25)</blockquote>
When Josiah was placed on the throne of Judah by the "People of the Land", the international situation was in flux: to the east, the [[Assyria]]n Empire was in the beginning stages of its eventual disintegration, the [[Babylon]]ian Empire had not yet risen to replace it, and [[Egypt]] to the west was still recovering from Assyrian rule. This favored the resurgence of the prowess of [[Jerusalem]], which Josiah expressed in the 8th year of rule by his sincere championing of the exclusive worship of Yahweh. He had the foreign cultic objects of [[Baal]], [[Ashterah]] (or [[Asherah]]), "and all the hosts of the heavens" in [[Solomon's Temple]] destroyed. The living pagan priests were slaughtered and the bones of priests exhumed from their graves and burned on their altars — which was viewed as an extreme act of desecration against these pagan deities by their adherents. (2 Kings 23:4, et seq.) The authors of ''Kings'' and ''Chronicles'' add to these acts in Jerusalem Josiah's similar destruction of altars and images belonging to pagan deities in the cities of the tribes of [[tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]], [[tribe of Ephraim|Ephraim]], "and [[tribe of Simeon|Simeon]], as far as [[Naphtali]]" (2 Kings 23:8f);(2 Chr. 34:6f).
 
  
In his 18th [[regnal year]], Josiah again worked on behalf of [[Yahweh]] by having the High Priest [[Hilkiah]] take the tax monies that had been collected over the years and use them to repair the neglect and damage the Temple had suffered during the reigns of [[Amon]] and [[Manasseh]].
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The biblical account does not begin with his birth, but with a [[prophecy]] three centuries earlier by an unnamed "man of God" in the time of [[Jeroboam I]]. This [[prophet]] reportedly predicted the act that would win Josiah his reputation as a king fully approved by the biblical writers, namely the destruction of a rival [[Israelites|Israelite]] sanctuary a few miles north of [[Jerusalem]] in [[Bethel]] and the execution of [[priest]]s who offered unauthorized [[sacrifice]]s at the "[[high places]]":
  
==Deuteronomic reform==
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<blockquote>O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: "A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you." (1 Kings 13:1-3)</blockquote>
While Hilkiah was clearing the treasure room of the Temple (2 Chr. 34:14), he found a scroll described as "the book, book of the [[Torah]]"/"הספר ספר התורה" (Second Kings 22:8) or as "the book of the Torah of [[YHVH]] by the hand of [[Moses]]" (2 Chr. 34:14). Following [[Wilhelm de Wette|De Wette]]'s suggestion in [[1805]], many scholars believe this was either a copy of the [[Deuteronomy|Book of Deuteronomy]], or a text that became Deuteronomy as we have it. Hilkiah brought this scroll to Josiah's attention, and the king had it read to a crowd in Jerusalem. He was praised for this piety by the [[prophetess]] [[Huldah]], who made the prophecy that all involved would die peacefully (''2 Kings'' 22:14-20; 2 Chr. 34:22-28). As the fate of King Josiah shows, this prophecy was not fulfilled in a physical sense.
 
==Assertion of control over Israel==
 
At some point between this year and his death, Josiah reasserted [[Judean]] control in the former territories of the [[kingdom of Israel]], which is recorded in ''2 Kings'' as systematically destroying the cultic objects in various cities, as well as executing the priests of the pagan gods. The only exception he made was for the grave of an unnamed prophet he found in [[Bethel]], who had foretold that these religious sites [[Jeroboam]] erected would one day be destroyed (23:15-19).
 
  
==Josiah's death==
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===The Boy-King Josiah===
There are two versions of Josiah's violent death. The Book of ''Kings'' tersely remarks that [[Necho II]] met Josiah at [[Megiddo (place)|Megiddo]], and killed him the moment the Egyptian king laid eyes on him ([[2 Kings]] 23:29)See [[Battle of Megiddo (609 B.C.E.)]]. Proponents of DtrH ascribe this portion of the book to a post-Josiahwic redaction. The author of ''Chronicles'' describes Josiah meeting Necho in battle at Megiddo, where Josiah was fatally wounded by Egyptian archers, and was brought back to Jerusalem to die. Some scholars favor the account in ''Chronicles'', because it better fits with what is known of international events. Necho had left Egypt around [[609 B.C.E.]] for two reasons: one was to relieve the Babylonian siege of [[Harran]], and the other was to help the king of [[Assyria]], who was defeated by the Babylonians at the [[Battle of Carchemish]]. Josiah's actions suggest that he was aiding the Babylonians by engaging the Egyptian army.
 
  
In either case, the death of this king was a serious blow to the Yahweh-only faction in Judea. 2 Chronicles 35:25 implies that [[Jeremiah (prophet)|Jeremiah]] wrote a lament for Josiah's passing. A Jewish tradition claims that this lament is preserved in Lamentations chapter 4.
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The story is taken up again in 2 Kings 22 when Josiah became ruler of [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] at the age of eight. His reign resulted from the assassination of his father, Amon, by court officials and the "people of the land." Both international affairs and Judah's internal situation at the time were in flux. To the east, the [[Assyria|Assyrian Empire]] was in the beginning stages of its eventual disintegration, the [[Babylonian Empire]] had not yet risen to replace it, and [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] to the southwest was still recovering from Assyrian dominance. This favored the resurgence of [[Jerusalem]] as a serious power in the region. The nation of Judah was finally recovering from a devastating Assyrian invasion in the previous century that resulted in the capture of every Judean town except the capital. Josiah's grandfather [[Manasseh]] had reversed the [[Yahweh]]-only religious policy of his own father [[Hezekiah]], and Josiah's father Amon continued in Manasseh's footsteps.
  
==Textual criticism==
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The boy-king Josiah was strongly influenced by the priests of Yahweh who raised and protected him. By the age 16, he had already become a strong devotee of Yahweh. At 20 he had instituted a program to "to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images" (2 Chron. 34:3).
While the Biblical text relates that the scroll was "found", this has been met with skepticism among some modern textual critics: the view of the English deists of the 16th century (Hertz 1936), that the book was a forgery created to help centralize power under Josiah, is held today among some Biblical scholars. (However, scholars such as W.R. Smith, [[Rudolf Kittel]], Dillman and Driver disagree, pointing out that priestly forgery of the Deuteronomic text was unlikely, as the text placed restrictions on the privileges of the priestly class, who were a thorn in the side of King Josiah.)
 
  
In the ancient Near East it was commonplace for religious scrolls to be deposited in temple walls when they were constructed (Hertz 1936), and according to the Swiss Egyptologist Naville, this was the custom amongst the Jews at the time of [[Solomon]]. It would have been more unusual if such scrolls were ''not'' found in during the renovation of a temple building, and Naville recounts a similar find recounted in the [[Egyptian Book of the Dead]].  It is interesting to note in this respect that the specific text cited by Naville is one of many which are attributed to famous figures of the past, typically sons of a Pharaoh, and which are all known to have be written at a much later date. The linguistic evidence and all of the anachronisms contained in the Book of [[Deuteronomy]] suggest that the scroll was likely to have been written during the reign of King Josiah. 
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===Major Religious Reform===
  
On the assumption that Deuteronomy was forged by Josiah's priests, these scholars go on to propose that the core narrative from Genesis to 2 Kings up to Josiah's reign comprise a "Deuteronomistic History" (DtrH) written during that reign. This history compiled the hypothesised "J", "E", and "D" narratives, all already textual at this point, of which the J narrative at this time would have extended into the history of [[David]]'s court; the DtrH further attempted to historicise narratives of the times of Joshua and the Judges. The hypothetical DtrH is distinguished from the surviving Biblical books in that it omits the priestly "P" narrative. The DtrH portrayed King Josiah as the ideal ruler as Deuteronomy had defined it, and thus as the rightful ruler of Judah. (This interpretation is often confused with the position of "Biblical Minimalism", which denies that David and Solomon ruled a united kingdom; but [[Baruch Halpern]] has noted that however tendentious, DtrH must still be treated as a history, and as largely accurate at least for the reign of Josiah.) See [[Dating the Bible]] and [[The Bible and history]]. Such claims are detailed in ''Who Were the Early Israelites?'' by [[William G. Dever]] (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 2003). Another such book is ''The Bible Unearthed'' by [[Neil A. Silberman]] and [[Israel Finkelstein]] (Simon and Schuster, New York, 2001).
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At the age of 26, Josiah began a program to upgrade the [[Temple of Jerusalem]], authorizing the high priest [[Hilkiah]] to take the [[tax]] monies that had been collected over the years and use them to repair the neglect that the Temple had suffered during the reigns of Amon and Manasseh.
  
==See also==
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Hilkiah claimed that while he was clearing the treasure room of the Temple (2 Chron. 34:14), he found a scroll described as "the book of the Law" (2 Kings 22:8) or as "the book of the Law ([[Torah]]) of [[Yahweh]] by the hand of [[Moses]]" (2 Chron. 34:14). Many scholars believe this was either a copy of the [[Deuteronomy|Book of Deuteronomy]], or a text that became Deuteronomy as we have it (see "Critical Views" below). Hilkiah had this scroll brought to Josiah's attention. The king checked its authenticity with the [[prophet]]ess [[Huldah]], who declared it legitimate and predicted (falsely as it turned out) that Josiah would soon die in peace (2 Kings 22:14-20).
*[[The Bible Unearthed : Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts]] for the possible role of Josiah in creation of the [[Bible]].
 
*Hertz J.H. (1936) The Pentateuch and Haftoras. Deuteronomy. Oxford University Press, London.
 
  
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Huldah's endorsement of the Book of Law, not to mention her prediction of his imminent death, prompted Josiah to redouble his efforts to purify the religion of Judah. He instituted a national celebration of [[Passover]], ordered the slaughter of pagan priests throughout the land, and banned sacrifices to Yahweh outside of the [[Temple of Jerusalem]] (2 Kings 23:4). He also attempted to curtail even private religious activity that did not conform to the standards set forth in the newly discovered Book of the Law:
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<blockquote>Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. (2 Kings 23:24)</blockquote>
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Archaeologists such as William Dever and others confirm the probable destruction of both pagan and Yahwistic official altars outside of Jerusalem during this period, but also report continued widespread pagan practices at household and village levels (Dever, 2006).
 +
 +
===Attempt at Reunification===
 +
 +
Josiah also reasserted Judean control in the former territories of the [[Kingdom of Israel]]. This is recorded in 2 Kings as systematically destroying the [[cult]]ic objects in various cities, as well as executing the priests of the [[paganism|pagan]] [[god]]s. This campaign included the destruction of the major [[Israelites|Israelite]] altar at [[Bethel]].
 +
 +
This attempt at re-unifying [[Kingdom of Israel|Israel]] and [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] was made possible largely due to the waning of [[Assyria]]n power in the region while the new [[Babylonian Empire]] asserted itself to the east. Pharaoh [[Necho II]] had left Egypt around 609 B.C.E. in support of his Assyrian allies. Josiah made a fateful decision to attack the Egyptians at Megiddo, where he was reportedly struck by Egyptian archers and soon died in [[Jerusalem]] (the account in Kings 23, however, differs from that of Chronicles 35 in terms of the manner and timing of Josiah's demise, perhaps reflecting the Chronicler's desire to harmonize his account with Huldah's prophecy that Josiah would die in peace, even if wounded mortally in battle).
 +
 +
The death of King Josiah was a serious blow to the [[Yahweh]]-only faction in Judea. In 2 Chronicles 35:25, the prophet [[Jeremiah]] wrote a lament for Josiah's passing. A Jewish tradition claims that this lament is preserved in [[Lamentations, Book of|Lamentations]] 4:
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:Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the sky.
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:They chased us over the mountains and lay in wait for us in the desert.
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:The Lord's [[messiah|anointed]], our very life breath, was caught in their traps.
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:We thought that under his shadow, we would live among the nations (4:19-20).
 +
 +
===Legacy===
 +
 +
From a geo-political viewpoint, Josiah's death signaled an end to the pro-Babylonian foreign policy he apparently favored. [[Jehoahaz]], the second son of Josiah, reigned for three months, after which he was dethroned by Necho and exiled to Egypt. Josiah's eldest son, [[Eliakim]], replaced him, ruling at Necho's pleasure as Jehoiakim. When [[Nebuchadrezzar II]] of Babylon defeated Egypt at Carchemish in 604, Jehoiakim and his kingdom became subjects of Babylon.
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The prophet [[Jeremiah]] counseled submission to Babylon, but in 598 B.C.E. Jehoiakim rebelled. He died soon thereafter with Jerusalem under siege. His son Jehoiachin held out for three months and then surrendered. He and his entire court were deported to Babylon. Nebuchadrezzar now placed on the throne Josiah's third son, [[Zedekiah]]. Jeremiah, still in Jerusalem, again urged cooperation with the Babylonian power, which he saw as God's chastising agent for Judah's sins; but other prophets urged boldness against the foreign enemy ([[Jeremiah, Book of|Jer.]] 28-29). Destroying Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E., the Babylonians blinded Zedekiah and brought him captive into exile with a large number of his subjects. Thus ended the Josiah's royal line, the "house of David," and the Kingdom of Judah.
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==Critical Views==
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Josiah plays a pivotal role in the modern critical interpretation of biblical history. The key incident in this appraisal is the "finding" of the "Book of the Law" in the Temple, which precipitated Josiah's brutal repression of non-Yahwist religion.
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Skepticism over the antiquity of the Book of the Law dates back to the English deists of the sixteenth century (Hertz 1936). Biblical scholars today generally believe that, rather than being written by Moses, the book was a pious forgery created either by Hilkiah or other priests. It served to strengthen the pro-Yahweh group under Josiah, and was also used by Josiah to solidify his rule and justify his military campaign against Egypt and Assyria. Many, including biblical literalists, consider the Book of the Law to have actually been a version of the Book of Deuteronomy, which specifically forbids not only pagan worship, but also the offering of sacrifices to Yahweh outside of Jerusalem:
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<blockquote>Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their [[Asherah]] poles in the fire... Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you. (Deut. 12:2-14)</blockquote>
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Other biblical books portray authentic priests and prophets of Yahweh—including such notable figures as [[Samuel]] and [[Elijah]]—as offering such sacrifices at various altars and "high places."
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Proponents of this theory also point to linguistic evidence and to the many anachronisms contained in the Book of [[Deuteronomy]] which suggest that the scroll was likely to have been written during the reign of Josiah. Some scholars go on to propose that the basic narrative from [[Exodus, Book of|Exodus]] through [[Kings, Books of|Kings]] constitutes a "Deuteronomic History" created primarily during Josiah's reign. This narrative used earlier sources such a [[documentary hypothesis|"J," "E,"]] and the records of court historians. However its compilers edited them to present the view that God rewarded those kings who supported the Yahweh-only policy in religious affairs, while punishing both Israel and Judah when they failed to repress pagan worship. King Josiah was thus the ideal ruler as the Deuteronomists defined it. Moreover, even the stories of Joshua and Moses—though already in existence—were developed in such a way as to promote Josiah as a new leader of the Chosen People who would drive out [[Canaan]]ite practices as a new Joshua, unify the land that had been divided because of idolatry, and boldly prevail against the Egyptian pharaoh as Moses did.<ref>Israel Finkelstein, ''The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts'' (New York: Free Press, 2002, ISBN 0684869136).</ref>
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However, scholars such as Rudolf Kittel disagree, pointing out that priestly [[forgery]] of the Deuteronomic text was unlikely. For one thing, the text placed restrictions on the privileges of the priestly class, who were actually a thorn in the side of Josiah. Moreover, in the ancient Near East it was commonplace for religious scrolls to be deposited in temple walls when they were constructed (Hertz 1960), and a similar find is recounted in the [[Egyptian Book of the Dead]].
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==Notes==
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<references />
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==References==
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*Albright, William F. ''The Archaeology of Palestine'', 2nd ed. Magnolia, MA: Peter Smith Pub Inc., 1985. ISBN 0844600032
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*Bright, John. ''A History of Israel'', 4th ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000. ISBN 0664220681
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*Dever, William. ''Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?'' Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2006. ISBN 978-0802844163
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*Finkelstein, Israel. ''The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts''. New York: Free Press, 2002. ISBN 0684869136
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*Galil, Gershon. ''The Chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah''. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1996. ISBN 9004106111
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*Hertz J. H. ''The Pentateuch and Haftoras: Deuteronomy''. Soncino Press, 1960. ISBN 978-0900689215
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*Kittel, Rudolph. ''Biblia Hebraica''. American Bible Society, 1952. {{ASIN|B000K3M8S4 }}
  
 
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[[category:philosophy and religion]]
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[[Category:Bible]]
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[[Category:Judaism]]

Latest revision as of 05:07, 7 May 2024


Josiah hears the "Book of Law" found by the priest Hilkiah in the Temple of Jerusalem

Josiah (יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ, Yošiyyáhuv, "supported of the Lord") was an important king of Judah whom the Bible praises as the greatest king since David. He was the son of King Amon, and the grandson of King Manasseh.

Josiah instituted a major religious reform that centralized the worship of the Hebrew God Yahweh in Jerusalem and strongly repressed pagan religions. He also attempted to extend his control beyond Judah in a drive to reunify the former northern Kingdom of Israel with his own. Josiah died as a result of a wound suffered in battle against Egyptian forces at Megiddo, at the age of 39. The dates of Josiah's reign are roughly 640-609 B.C.E. Three of his sons and one of his grandsons reigned after him. His son Zedekiah, having reigned after Josiah's grandson Jehoiachin, was the last king of royal line of David.

The chief sources of Josiah's life are 2 Kings 22-23, and 2 Chronicles 34-35. Archaeologists have recovered a number of "scroll-style" stamps dating to his reign. Josiah is credited by some historians with having played a key role in establishing the tradition of Jewish scripture.

Josiah in the Bible

The biblical authors view Josiah as the greatest of all kings in his devotion to God:

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. (2 Kings 23:25)

The biblical account does not begin with his birth, but with a prophecy three centuries earlier by an unnamed "man of God" in the time of Jeroboam I. This prophet reportedly predicted the act that would win Josiah his reputation as a king fully approved by the biblical writers, namely the destruction of a rival Israelite sanctuary a few miles north of Jerusalem in Bethel and the execution of priests who offered unauthorized sacrifices at the "high places":

O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: "A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you." (1 Kings 13:1-3)

The Boy-King Josiah

The story is taken up again in 2 Kings 22 when Josiah became ruler of Judah at the age of eight. His reign resulted from the assassination of his father, Amon, by court officials and the "people of the land." Both international affairs and Judah's internal situation at the time were in flux. To the east, the Assyrian Empire was in the beginning stages of its eventual disintegration, the Babylonian Empire had not yet risen to replace it, and Egypt to the southwest was still recovering from Assyrian dominance. This favored the resurgence of Jerusalem as a serious power in the region. The nation of Judah was finally recovering from a devastating Assyrian invasion in the previous century that resulted in the capture of every Judean town except the capital. Josiah's grandfather Manasseh had reversed the Yahweh-only religious policy of his own father Hezekiah, and Josiah's father Amon continued in Manasseh's footsteps.

The boy-king Josiah was strongly influenced by the priests of Yahweh who raised and protected him. By the age 16, he had already become a strong devotee of Yahweh. At 20 he had instituted a program to "to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images" (2 Chron. 34:3).

Major Religious Reform

At the age of 26, Josiah began a program to upgrade the Temple of Jerusalem, authorizing the high priest Hilkiah to take the tax monies that had been collected over the years and use them to repair the neglect that the Temple had suffered during the reigns of Amon and Manasseh.

Hilkiah claimed that while he was clearing the treasure room of the Temple (2 Chron. 34:14), he found a scroll described as "the book of the Law" (2 Kings 22:8) or as "the book of the Law (Torah) of Yahweh by the hand of Moses" (2 Chron. 34:14). Many scholars believe this was either a copy of the Book of Deuteronomy, or a text that became Deuteronomy as we have it (see "Critical Views" below). Hilkiah had this scroll brought to Josiah's attention. The king checked its authenticity with the prophetess Huldah, who declared it legitimate and predicted (falsely as it turned out) that Josiah would soon die in peace (2 Kings 22:14-20).

Huldah's endorsement of the Book of Law, not to mention her prediction of his imminent death, prompted Josiah to redouble his efforts to purify the religion of Judah. He instituted a national celebration of Passover, ordered the slaughter of pagan priests throughout the land, and banned sacrifices to Yahweh outside of the Temple of Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:4). He also attempted to curtail even private religious activity that did not conform to the standards set forth in the newly discovered Book of the Law:

Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. (2 Kings 23:24)

Archaeologists such as William Dever and others confirm the probable destruction of both pagan and Yahwistic official altars outside of Jerusalem during this period, but also report continued widespread pagan practices at household and village levels (Dever, 2006).

Attempt at Reunification

Josiah also reasserted Judean control in the former territories of the Kingdom of Israel. This is recorded in 2 Kings as systematically destroying the cultic objects in various cities, as well as executing the priests of the pagan gods. This campaign included the destruction of the major Israelite altar at Bethel.

This attempt at re-unifying Israel and Judah was made possible largely due to the waning of Assyrian power in the region while the new Babylonian Empire asserted itself to the east. Pharaoh Necho II had left Egypt around 609 B.C.E. in support of his Assyrian allies. Josiah made a fateful decision to attack the Egyptians at Megiddo, where he was reportedly struck by Egyptian archers and soon died in Jerusalem (the account in Kings 23, however, differs from that of Chronicles 35 in terms of the manner and timing of Josiah's demise, perhaps reflecting the Chronicler's desire to harmonize his account with Huldah's prophecy that Josiah would die in peace, even if wounded mortally in battle).

The death of King Josiah was a serious blow to the Yahweh-only faction in Judea. In 2 Chronicles 35:25, the prophet Jeremiah wrote a lament for Josiah's passing. A Jewish tradition claims that this lament is preserved in Lamentations 4:

Our pursuers were swifter than eagles in the sky.
They chased us over the mountains and lay in wait for us in the desert.
The Lord's anointed, our very life breath, was caught in their traps.
We thought that under his shadow, we would live among the nations (4:19-20).

Legacy

From a geo-political viewpoint, Josiah's death signaled an end to the pro-Babylonian foreign policy he apparently favored. Jehoahaz, the second son of Josiah, reigned for three months, after which he was dethroned by Necho and exiled to Egypt. Josiah's eldest son, Eliakim, replaced him, ruling at Necho's pleasure as Jehoiakim. When Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon defeated Egypt at Carchemish in 604, Jehoiakim and his kingdom became subjects of Babylon.

The prophet Jeremiah counseled submission to Babylon, but in 598 B.C.E. Jehoiakim rebelled. He died soon thereafter with Jerusalem under siege. His son Jehoiachin held out for three months and then surrendered. He and his entire court were deported to Babylon. Nebuchadrezzar now placed on the throne Josiah's third son, Zedekiah. Jeremiah, still in Jerusalem, again urged cooperation with the Babylonian power, which he saw as God's chastising agent for Judah's sins; but other prophets urged boldness against the foreign enemy (Jer. 28-29). Destroying Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E., the Babylonians blinded Zedekiah and brought him captive into exile with a large number of his subjects. Thus ended the Josiah's royal line, the "house of David," and the Kingdom of Judah.

Critical Views

Josiah plays a pivotal role in the modern critical interpretation of biblical history. The key incident in this appraisal is the "finding" of the "Book of the Law" in the Temple, which precipitated Josiah's brutal repression of non-Yahwist religion.

Skepticism over the antiquity of the Book of the Law dates back to the English deists of the sixteenth century (Hertz 1936). Biblical scholars today generally believe that, rather than being written by Moses, the book was a pious forgery created either by Hilkiah or other priests. It served to strengthen the pro-Yahweh group under Josiah, and was also used by Josiah to solidify his rule and justify his military campaign against Egypt and Assyria. Many, including biblical literalists, consider the Book of the Law to have actually been a version of the Book of Deuteronomy, which specifically forbids not only pagan worship, but also the offering of sacrifices to Yahweh outside of Jerusalem:

Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire... Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you. (Deut. 12:2-14)

Other biblical books portray authentic priests and prophets of Yahweh—including such notable figures as Samuel and Elijah—as offering such sacrifices at various altars and "high places."

Proponents of this theory also point to linguistic evidence and to the many anachronisms contained in the Book of Deuteronomy which suggest that the scroll was likely to have been written during the reign of Josiah. Some scholars go on to propose that the basic narrative from Exodus through Kings constitutes a "Deuteronomic History" created primarily during Josiah's reign. This narrative used earlier sources such a "J," "E," and the records of court historians. However its compilers edited them to present the view that God rewarded those kings who supported the Yahweh-only policy in religious affairs, while punishing both Israel and Judah when they failed to repress pagan worship. King Josiah was thus the ideal ruler as the Deuteronomists defined it. Moreover, even the stories of Joshua and Moses—though already in existence—were developed in such a way as to promote Josiah as a new leader of the Chosen People who would drive out Canaanite practices as a new Joshua, unify the land that had been divided because of idolatry, and boldly prevail against the Egyptian pharaoh as Moses did.[1]

However, scholars such as Rudolf Kittel disagree, pointing out that priestly forgery of the Deuteronomic text was unlikely. For one thing, the text placed restrictions on the privileges of the priestly class, who were actually a thorn in the side of Josiah. Moreover, in the ancient Near East it was commonplace for religious scrolls to be deposited in temple walls when they were constructed (Hertz 1960), and a similar find is recounted in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

Notes

  1. Israel Finkelstein, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts (New York: Free Press, 2002, ISBN 0684869136).

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Albright, William F. The Archaeology of Palestine, 2nd ed. Magnolia, MA: Peter Smith Pub Inc., 1985. ISBN 0844600032
  • Bright, John. A History of Israel, 4th ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000. ISBN 0664220681
  • Dever, William. Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2006. ISBN 978-0802844163
  • Finkelstein, Israel. The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts. New York: Free Press, 2002. ISBN 0684869136
  • Galil, Gershon. The Chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1996. ISBN 9004106111
  • Hertz J. H. The Pentateuch and Haftoras: Deuteronomy. Soncino Press, 1960. ISBN 978-0900689215
  • Kittel, Rudolph. Biblia Hebraica. American Bible Society, 1952. ASIN B000K3M8S4

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