King Josiah of Judah

Abstract

AbstractKing Josiah of Judah (ruled 640–609 b.c.e.) is a figure of extraordinary importance for the history of ancient Israel and Judah. According to the biblical narrative, a Torah scroll was discovered during the renovation of the Jerusalem Temple in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign. This scroll, commonly identified as a form of Deuteronomy, became the basis of an ambitious program of religious reform and national restoration in which Josiah closed down all pagan worship sites throughout the land of Israel, centralized worship at the Jerusalem Temple, and attempted to reunite Israel and Judah as an independent monarchy under the rule of the royal house of David. The narratives concerning Josiah's reign have proved to be pivotal in discussion among biblical scholars, insofar as they have provided the basis for the reconstruction of the history of Israelite/Judean religion and the compositional history of much of the Hebrew Bible. This study reexamines the relevant biblical literature and the archeology evidence concerning the reign of King Josiah of Judah and its impact on ancient Judean thought. It argues that early forms of the book of Deuteronomy, the so‐called Deuteronomistic History (Joshua; Judges; 1–2 Samuel; and 1–2 Kings), and much of the prophetic literature (Isaiah; Hosea; Amos; Micah; Jeremiah; Zephaniah; Nahum; cf. Habakkuk) were written or edited to support King Josiah's reform and to present him as the righteous Davidic monarch, who would realize the divine promise of security for the land and people of Israel. Following the tragic death of Josiah at the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo in 609 b.c.e., Josiah's program of religious reform and national restoration came to an end as Judah was subjugated first to Egypt and then to Babylon prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 587 b.c.e. The image of Josiah as a righteous Davidic monarch and his program nevertheless continued to influence Israelite/Judean expectations of restoration in the aftermath of the Babylonian exile.