Son of Amon, king of Judah (638–609 BCE). His reign of 31 years was marked by a great national revival. The Bible devotes two chapters to Josiah in II Kings (chs. 22 and 23) and two chapters in II Chronicles (chs. 34 and 35), dealing mostly with the religious reforms which he brought about. During his reign Assyria began to decline as a world power, and for Judah, hitherto subjugated by it, there appeared a prospect of independence and expanded borders. Nevertheless, as a result of the struggle between the strong nations to inherit the Assyrian Empire, new dangers faced Judah, which posed the threat of national destruction. Adding to the dangers and terror was the pillaging by the marauding Scythian horsemen who robbed and desolated Judah and other countries in the region.
Josiah restored national rule and the practices of religious worship according to Torah laws, purged the Temple in Jerusalem of alien altars and made it the one and only center of the Jewish religion. To add to the glory and standing of Jerusalem as the capital of the land and the focus of religious worship of the whole people, he called on the nation to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem from all corners of Judah and there to celebrate the Passover: "Now the Passover sacrifice had not been offered in that manner in the days of the chieftains who ruled Israel, or during the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah" (II Kg. 23:22). During Temple repair ordered by him, a book of the Torah was found which, it appears from II Kings, was known to the high priest but not to the king, who had not been educated by his father Amon or his grandfather Manasseh (he was only eight when he ascended to the throne).
Josiah was the only king who initiated a war against the regional powers. He was wounded and died in an attempt by his army to block the way of Pharaoh Neco of Egypt. The reign of Josiah was the last great period in the history of the Judean monarchy.
