Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father; and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images.
2 Chronicles 34:1-3 (ESV)
Josiah became king when he was only eight years old, following two of the most ungodly kings that Judah ever had. But Josiah did not follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. The Scripture tells us that when he was sixteen, he began to seek the God of David. Four years later, he began to purge the land of the high places and idols. And six years later, in the eighteenth year of his reign, he began to cleanse and repair the temple from the neglect and abuse it had suffered before he came to power (2 Chron. 34:8).
During that cleansing, the Book of the Law was found, likely some portion of Deuteronomy. When Josiah had read it, he tore his robes in horror, realizing that, because of their past disobedience, they were subject to God’s wrath. When Josiah sought the Lord, a prophet told him that disaster was indeed coming to the nation (2 Chron. 34:19-21). But, because of his response, it would not come in his lifetime.
Josiah redoubled his efforts to bring Judah back into compliance with the Law. And that included celebrating the Passover. A Passover celebration unlike any other since the days of Samuel (2 Chron. 35:18). Of all the kings of Israel and Judah, only Josiah receives no negative feedback in either Kings or Chronicles.
Why Did Josiah Seek the Lord?
What was it about Josiah that made him different than Manasseh, his grandfather, the most ungodly king Judah ever had (2 Kings 21:1-18)? It could be his advisors, and that was certainly true of Joash (2 Chron. 24:2, 17-18). But Josiah and his sons all had Jeremiah to guide them. And his sons did not follow in his footsteps.
I believe what God told Samuel when he was impressed with David’s oldest brother applies to Josiah as well. “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). Josiah’s heart was one that sought after God. Manasseh’s was not.
We are not all the same. Some, like David and Josiah, have hearts that seek the Lord and respond to him. And they find favor with the Lord. Others, like the Pharaoh of the Exodus and Manasseh, have hearts that are hard and unreceptive to the word of the Lord. And they turn away from the Lord and reject the truth, to their own hurt.
