Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 22

Josiah, the boy king

2 Kings 22:1-2

Josiah became the king of Judah when he was only 8 years old. As a boy, he would have depended greatly upon his teachers and advisers. However, it seems that they did not teach him to serve the true God. During the rule of Josiah’s father Amon, and most of the rule of Josiah’s grandfather Manasseh, Judah’s people served false gods. That situation did not change until many years after Josiah became king.

The first major change happened in the 8^th year of Josiah’s rule, when he was about 16 years old. It was then that Josiah decided to serve the true God. Josiah did not at that time know God’s law. Rather, it seems that he wanted to imitate David, the first great king from his family. David had lived more than 300 years before Josiah, and he was completely loyal to the true God. It seems that David’s simple and sincere attitudes impressed Josiah. He wanted to be a king like David, so he chose David’s God to be his (Josiah’s) God too (2 Chronicles 34:3).

Four years later, Josiah started to act against the wrong religions in Judah and elsewhere in Israel. He was not yet doing this from a knowledge of God’s law. Rather, he seemed to follow a simple principle: as God is the only true God, it cannot please God for people to pray to the images of false gods. As Josiah was the king, he claimed authority over Judah’s people in matters of religion. Amon and Manasseh had caused the people to serve false gods; Josiah wanted to urge them to serve only the true God.

Next part: Josiah repairs the temple (2 Kings 22:3-7)

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