Josiah

Josiah, son of Amon, became king at the age of eight and reigned thirty-one years. 2 Kings 22:2 says 'he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.' At sixteen, says 2 Chronicles 34:3, he began to seek the God of David his father; at twenty he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherim, and graven images, breaking down the altars of the Baals in his presence and grinding the carved images to powder. In his eighteenth year, during the temple repair under the high priest Hilkiah, the Book of the Law was found in the house of the LORD. When it was read to Josiah he tore his clothes; through the prophetess Huldah the LORD confirmed both the coming judgement on Judah and that Josiah would be gathered to his grave in peace before it fell. Josiah called the elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, read the book in their hearing in the temple, and made a covenant to keep the LORD's commandments with all his heart and soul (2 Kings 23:1-3). He defiled Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom, removed the horses dedicated to the sun, broke down the altar at Bethel that Jeroboam I had built (fulfilling 1 Kings 13:2 after 300 years), executed the idolatrous priests of the high places, and kept a Passover greater than any since the days of the judges (2 Kings 23:22). He died at Megiddo, struck by archers when he went out to oppose Pharaoh Necho marching to the aid of Assyria at Carchemish; Jeremiah composed laments for him (2 Chronicles 35:25).