In the list of kings that ruled over the children of Israel, both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles record the reign of Josiah, the sixteenth king of Judah.

He was the son of King Amon who had ruled for 38 years before being assassinated. Amon was a short-lived and idolatrous king according to 2 Kings 21:19–26.
His Grandfather was Manasseh, whose long apostasy had filled Jerusalem with blood. 2 Kings 21:16.
Josiahs sons were called Johanan, Jehoiakim (Eliakim), Shallum (Jehoahaz), and Zedekiah (Mattaniah) 1 Chronicles 3:15).
Prophetic contemporaries of Josiah were Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:2), Zephaniah Zephaniah 1:1, Nahum (implicitly dated), and possibly Habakkuk.

JOSIAH – יאשׁיהו   yō·šî·yā·hū

Strongs 2977 Yoshiyyah or Yoshiyyahu:

Josiah had a godly mother who directed him in the ways of the Lord because he was so young when he came to the throne. Parents have a great influence on children and how they will grow up, his mother was instrumental in shaping the future of a whole nation through her son.

2 Kings 22:1
HEB: שְׁמֹנֶ֤ה שָׁנָה֙ יֹאשִׁיָּ֣הוּ בְמָלְכ֔וֹ וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֤ים
NAS: Josiah was eight years
KJV: Josiah [was] eight years

Through her godly influence, and after a spiritual awakening at sixteen:

“He began to seek the God of his father David” 2 Chronicles 34:3.

At the age of 20 he purged the rampant idolatry in the land. 2 Chronicles 34:3–7. He tore down the altars, Asherah poles, carved images, and molten images grinding them to powder and scattering them on the graves of their worshipers, he destroyed all the idols, abominations and witchcraft in the land.

2 Chronicles 34:33
HEB: וַיָּ֨סַר יֹֽאשִׁיָּ֜הוּ אֶת־ כָּל־
NAS: Josiah removed all
KJV: And Josiah took away
INT: removed Josiah all the abominations

In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s project to repair the Temple in Jerusalem,

“the Book of the Law of the LORD given through Moses” was discovered. 2 Chronicles 34:14-15.

The Torah scrolls that had been hidden for so long brought a great revival to the land by Josiah leading the people back to the Word of God written in the Holy Scriptures.

This led to a national covenant renewal and 2 Kings 23:3 records that,

“The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD… to perform the words of this covenant written in this book”

Following that we read in 2 Chronicles 35:18-19. that they held

‘The greatest Passover since the days of the judges.’

Josiah was the last of the good kings in Judah, the last God-fearing monarch of the Davidic line before the Babylonian exile, whose reign highlights the final marker of covenant faithfulness in Judah.

In 2 Kings 22:15-20 Huldah’s oracle affirmed that judgment on Judah was inevitable but was delayed because Josiah’s heart was tender before the LORD.

His total commitment reads loud and clear in 2 Kings 23:25.

“There was no 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.”

Josiah is a model of wholehearted obedience that encompasses the entire covenant laid out in Deuteronomy 6:5.

Original Word: יאֹשִׁיָּה
Part of Speech: Proper Name Masculine
Transliteration: Yo’shiyah
Pronunciation: yo-shee-YAH-hoo
Phonetic Spelling: (yo-shee-yaw’)
KJV: Josiah
Word Origin: [from the same root as H803 (אֲשׁוּיָה – Work) 

and H3050 (יָהּ – LORD)]

JOSIAH – יאשׁיהו   yō·šî·yā·hū s

Strongs 2977 Yoshiyyah or Yoshiyyahu:

Josiah’s name means: the one through whom God heals.

It comes from a Semitic root ‘ashah, – one who supports

and is also closely related to the word 

‘ashur which is the root word for Assyria;

the whole story of Josiah is told in and  through his name.  

God healed the nation through Josiah and it was Josiah who supported God’s mission and call upon Israel, however it was Josiah’s fear of Assyria that brought him down.

Sadly in this account we read of a king, Josiah, who loved God with all his heart, who brought his people back to God, helped to introduce a revival in his land and then after 38 years as Judah’s king, God took him home at the age of 46.  At the end of his life in one of his greatest tests, after years of faithful service, Josiah failed to trust God.

II Chronicles 35:22:  “Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.”

Josiah gave in to fear of the Assyrians, that they would make an alliance with Egypt, and regain their position as a world power and in turn fight against Judah. Josiah still fought the battle the Lord told him not to fight, even when He spoke through the Egyptian general Necho to stand down.

After a lifetime of walking with and trusting Him, he could not trust God in the matter with the Assyrians and he went ahead and took his army to stop the Egyptians. In the ensuing battle, Josiah was killed.

When Josiah died his two sons fought over the throne, which was seized by Jehoahaz the youngest. However only three months later Necho, the Egyptian general, deposed him and set his brother Jehoaiakim up as king. His name means “whom God has set up” and he ruled as a puppet for Egypt for another eleven years. He is described him as a ruthless tyrant by Hebrew historians. Judah was eventually led into captivity by the Babylonians having never returned to God.

When we are faced with a real test of our faith, the enemy will come to tempt us to trust in the arm of the flesh, rather than in our Heavenly Father; especially when in the natural circumstances we don’t see how He will work in our situation. This is a good time to remember Josiah.  We must be aware that even after a lifetime of trusting our Heavenly Father and serving Him, he let fear overtake him, looked to the arm of the flesh and he failed. No matter how many years of service to the Lord, trusting Him and seeing his power, the enemy lurks in the shadows; he knows our weaknesses and we are still vulnerable no matter how many years we have trusted in our Fathers provision. We must always be on guard no matter how strong we think we are, and no matter how strong the temptation is to lean on the arm of the flesh; we must always trust in His timing and keep the faith that He will intervene on our behalf.

Josiah stands as Scripture’s great example of a reformer-king, whose heartfelt obedience, reverence for the written Word, and serious actions against idolatry offer a timeless blueprint for covenant faithfulness. For a short period of time his reign reversed the rising tide of judgment, showing that when a ruler and the people align themselves with divine revelation; genuine spiritual renewal can occur even in the darkest cultural hour. We can relate to the meaning of Josiah today as  ‘the one through whom God heals.’ Because it is also true of each of us who belong to Messiah Yeshua/Jesus of whom Josiah was a type and shadow. We are His vessels His Josiahs, and He heals through us.

Shalom aleikhem

chaverim and mishpachah!

Peace to friends and family.

Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.

Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are very precious in His sight.

Not sure ..you can be…

SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute,

SAY IT RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.