Josiah listening to the reading of the law by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

Josiah or Yoshiyahu (Hebrew: יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ, Standard Yošiyyáhu Tiberian Yôšiyyāhû ; "supported of the Lord") was king of Judah, and son of Amon and Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. Judea is a term used for the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel. Saul (שאול המלך (or Sha'ul) ( Arabic: طالوت,Tālūt ( (reigned 1047 - 1007 BCE is identified in the Books of Samuel, 1 Chronicles David, Arabic: داوود or داود dawud, "beloved" was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible King Solomon ( Ge'ez: ስለሞን Arabic: ar سليمان, Sulayman, all from the Triliteral root S-L-M, "peace" Rehoboam ( Hebrew:רחבעם Rehav'am was a king of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, succeeding his father Solomon. Abijah ("father of the sea" or "my father is the sea" or "my father is the god Yah " Hebrew:אביים Aviyam was the fourth king Asa ( was the fifth king of the House of David and the third of the Kingdom of Judah. See Josaphat for other meanings of the name Jehoshaphat or Jehosaphat or Josaphat or Yehoshafat ( was the successor of Jehoram of Judah (יהורם המלך was the king of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, and the son of Jehoshaphat ( 2 Kings 816 This entry is not about King Ahaziah of Israel. Ahaziah of Judah (אחזיהו המלך was king of Judah, and the son of Jehoram and Athaliah or Athalie ( Hebrew: ʻĂṯalyâ (עֲתַלְיָה "God is exalted" was the queen of Judah during the reign of King Jehoash (יהואש המלך ("Jehovah-given" sometimes written Joash was the king of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, and sole surviving son of Ahaziah Amaziah of Judah (אמציה was the king of Judah, and son and successor of Joash ( 2 Kings 141-4 Uzziah of Judah (עֻזִּיָּהוּ also known as Azariah, was the king of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, and one of Amaziah 's sons whom the people Jotham ( Yotam in Hebrew "God is perfect or complete" was the king of Judah, and son of Uzziah with Jerusha, daughter Ahaz (אחז lit "has held" an abbreviation of Jehoahaz, "God has held" was king of Judah, and the son and successor of Jotham Hezekiah (or Ezekias) ( Hebrew: Ḥizqiyyāhu Khizkiyahu or Yəḥizqiyyāhu Y'khizkiyahu " the {{LORD}} has strengthened" compare Manasseh of Judah was the king of Judah and only son and successor of Hezekiah. According to the Bible, Amon of Judah was the king of Judah and son of Manasseh of Judah. Jehoahaz (in Hebrew יהואחז was king of Judah and the fourth and youngest son of king Josiah whom he succeeded and Hamautal, daughter of Jehoiakim (יהוֹיָקִים "he whom Jehovah has set up" also sometimes spelled Jehoikim) was king of Judah and the second son of king Ykhanya (יְכָנְיָה jəxɔnjɔh meaning " God will fortify (his people" see Theophory in the Bible; Greek: ιεχονιας Tzidkiyahu (צִדְקִיָּהוּ Şidhqiyyāhû; Greek: ζεδεκιας Zedekias; traditional English Zedekiah) was the last king of Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld ( March 26 1794 - May 24 1872) was a German painter. Tiberian Hebrew is an extinct (yet very well documented Oral tradition of pronunciation for ancient Hebrew, especially the Hebrew of the Tanakh, that was See also Yahweh Tetragrammaton (from the Greek, meaning ' of four letters' (tetra "four" + gramma (gen Judea is a term used for the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel. According to the Bible, Amon of Judah was the king of Judah and son of Manasseh of Judah. His grandfather was King Manasseh, who Josianic sources blame for turning away from the Israelite religion, even adapting the Temple for worship that was considered idolatrous by faithful Israelites. Manasseh of Judah was the king of Judah and only son and successor of Hezekiah. Josiah is credited by some historians with having established Jewish scripture in written form as a part of the Deuteronomic reform that occurred during his rule.

William F. Albright has dated his reign to 640 BC-609 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 641 BC-609 BC. William Foxwell Albright ( May 24, 1891 – September 19 / September 20, 1971) was an American archaeologist, Events and trends Assyrian king Ashurbanipal founds library which includes our earliest complete copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Edwin R Thiele (1895&ndash1986 was an American Missionary in China, an editor, archaeologist, writer and Old Testament professor Events and trends Assyrian king Ashurbanipal founds library which includes our earliest complete copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The chief sources of his reign are 2 Kings 22-23, and 2 Chronicles 34-35, and considerable archaeological evidence document conditions in Judah during his reign. The Books of Kings ( Sefer Melachim, ספר מלכים are a part of Judaism 's Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. The Books of Chronicles ( Hebrew Divrei Hayyamim, דברי הימים Greek Paraleipomêna) are part of the Hebrew Bible (Jewish (1 Esdras 1 also discusses Josiah, but is clearly based entirely on the relevant portion of 2 Chronicles. 1 Esdras (Εσδράς A′ is a book from the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament regarded as canonical in Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy ) Archaeologists have recovered a number of "scroll-style" stamps dating to his reign.

Judah's condition at his accession

Josiah was placed on the throne of Judah by the "People of the Land", the international situation was in flux: to the east, the Assyrian Empire was in the beginning stages of its eventual disintegration, the Babylonian Empire had not yet risen to replace it, and Egypt to the west was still recovering from Assyrian rule. Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture Babylon was a City-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. In this power vacuum, Jerusalem was able to govern itself without foreign intervention. Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the In the 18th year of Josiah's rule he began to encourage the exclusive worship of Yahweh, and he outlawed all other forms of worship. Josiah repressed sodomitic activity (2 Kings 23:7) and had the foreign cultic objects of Baal, Ashterah (or Asherah), "and all the hosts of the heavens" in Solomon's Temple destroyed. Ba'al (pronounced; Hebrew בעל (ordinarily spelled Baal in English is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord" Astarte (from Greek Ἀστάρτη ( Astártē) is the name of a Goddess as known from Northwestern Semitic regions cognate in name origin Asherah (from Hebrew אשרה generally taken as identical with the Ugaritic goddess Athirat (more accurately transcribed as ʼAṯirat) was Solomon's Temple (בית המקדש transliterated Beit HaMikdash) also known as the First Temple, was according to The living pagan priests were killed and the bones of priests exhumed from their graves and burned on their altars -- which was viewed as an extreme act of desecration against these pagan deities by their adherents. (2 Kings 23:4, et seq. ) The authors of Kings and Chronicles add to these acts in Jerusalem Josiah's similar destruction of altars and images belonging to pagan deities in the cities of the tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, "and Simeon, as far as Naphtali" (2 Kings 23:8f); (2 Chr. The Tribe of Menasheh ( was one of the Tribes of Israel. Together with the Tribe of Ephraim, Menasheh also formed the House of Joseph. The Tribe of Ephraim (} was one of the Tribes of Israel; together with the Tribe of Manasseh, Ephraim also formed the House of Joseph The Tribe of Simeon ( was one of the Tribes of Israel. At its height the territory it occupied was in the southwest of Canaan, bordered on the east and south by Naphtali (ˈnæftəˌlaɪ ( was according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Jacob and Bilhah, and the founder of the Israelite 34:6f). He also had the High Priest Hilkiah take the tax monies that had been collected over the years and use them to repair the neglect and damage the Temple had suffered during the reigns of Amon and Manasseh. Hilkiah was a Hebrew Priest at the time of King Josiah. His name is mentioned in II Kings. According to the Bible, Amon of Judah was the king of Judah and son of Manasseh of Judah. Manasseh of Judah was the king of Judah and only son and successor of Hezekiah.

Deuteronomic reform

While Hilkiah was clearing the treasure room of the Temple (2 Chr. 34:14), he reportedly found a scroll described as "a book of the Torah"/"ספר התורה" (Second Kings 22:8) or as "the book of the Torah of YHVH by the hand of Moses" (2 Chr. term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to For information about Yahweh see God in Abrahamic religions, which provides useful links Moses ( Latin: Moyses,; Greek: grc Mωυσής in both the Septuagint and the New Testament; Arabic: ar موسىٰ 34:14). Following De Wette's suggestion in 1805, many scholars believe this was either a copy of the Book of Deuteronomy, or a text that became a part of Deuteronomy as we have it. Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette ( January 12, 1780 - June 16, 1849) was a German theologian. Deuteronomy (Greek deuteronomion, Δευτερονόμιον "second law" is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament Hilkiah brought this scroll to Josiah's attention, and the king had it read to a crowd in Jerusalem. He was praised for this piety by the prophetess Huldah, who made the prophecy that all involved would die without having to see God's judgement on Judah for the sins they had committed in prior generations(2 Kings 22:14-20; 2 Chr. In Religion, a prophet (or prophetess) is a person who has encountered the Supernatural or the divine and serves as an intermediary Huldah was a Prophetess mentioned briefly in II Kings, Chapter 22 and Books of Chronicles 2 Chapter 34 34:22-28).

Assertion of control over Israel

At some point between this year and his death, Josiah reasserted Judean control in the former territories of the kingdom of Israel, which is recorded in 2 Kings as systematically destroying the cultic objects in various cities, as well as executing the priests of the pagan gods. Judea or Judæa ( Hebrew: יהודה Standard Yəhuda Tiberian Yəhûḏāh, "praised The Kingdom of Israel ( ( KJV Israel in Samaria) was one of the successor states to the older United Monarchy (also often called the 'Kingdom of Israel' The only exception he made (2 Kings 23:15-19) was for the grave of an unnamed prophet he found in Bethel, who had foretold that these religious sites Jeroboam erected would one day be destroyed (see 1 Kings 13). Bethel (בֵּית אֵל also written as Beth El or Beth-El, meaning "House of God" (in general or " House of (the specific god named El Jeroboam (yarobh`am Hieroboam in the Septuagint; commonly held to have been derived from riyb and `am and signifying "the people contend" or "he pleads the

Josiah's death

There are two versions of Josiah's death. The Book of Kings tersely remarks that Necho II met Josiah at Megiddo, and killed him the moment the Egyptian king laid eyes on him (2 Kings 23:29)- see Battle of Megiddo (609 BC). Necho II (sometimes Nekau) was a king of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt (610 BC - 595 BC and the son of Psammetichus I by his Great Royal Megiddo (מגידו is a hill in modern Israel near the Kibbutz of Megiddo, known for historical geographical and theological reasons The Books of Kings ( Sefer Melachim, ספר מלכים are a part of Judaism 's Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. This Battle of Megiddo is recorded as having taken place in 609 BC with Necho II of Egypt leading his army to Carchemish to fight with his allies the In 2 Chronicles 35:20-27 King Josiah is killed after he attacks King Necho which is in opposition to the will of God. The Books of Chronicles ( Hebrew Divrei Hayyamim, דברי הימים Greek Paraleipomêna) are part of the Hebrew Bible (Jewish His death is in this way validated. Proponents of DtrH ("Deuteronomistic History") ascribe this portion of the book to a post-Josiahwic redaction. The author of Chronicles describes Josiah meeting Necho in battle at Megiddo, where Josiah was fatally wounded by Egyptian archers, and was brought back to Jerusalem to die. Some scholars favor the account in Chronicles, because it better fits with what is known of international events. Necho had left Egypt around 609 BC for two reasons: one was to relieve the Babylonian siege of Harran, and the other was to help the king of Assyria, who was defeated by the Babylonians at the Battle of Carchemish. Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture The Battle of Carchemish was fought about 605 BC between the allied armies of Egypt and Assyria against Babylonia. Josiah's actions suggest that he was aiding the Babylonians by engaging the Egyptian army.

In either case, the death of this king was a serious blow to core Judaic beliefs that include Yaweh being the only true God. Subsequent kings undid Josiah's reforms and reinstituted polytheistic religion. 2 Chronicles 35:25 implies that Jeremiah wrote a lament for Josiah's passing. Jeremiah ( jirmɛ'jahu; Septuagint Greek: Ἰερεμίας was one of the 'greater prophets ' of the Hebrew Bible. A Jewish tradition claims that this lament is preserved in Lamentations chapter 4.

It is rumoured that before his death he had homosexual intercourse with a clergy named Jack Finch, this is widely debated among many critics, the most notable being Loy Fellows and Dipesh Patar.

Critical Scholarship on the Reform of King Josiah

While the Biblical text relates that the scroll was "found", this has been met with skepticism among some modern critics: the view of the English deists of the 16th century (Hertz 1936), that the book was a forgery created to help centralize power under Josiah, is held today among some Biblical scholars. (However, scholars such as W. R. Smith, Rudolf Kittel, Dillman and Driver disagree, pointing out that priestly forgery of the Deuteronomic text was unlikely, as the text placed restrictions on the privileges of the priestly class, who were a thorn in the side of King Josiah. Rudolf Kittel ( 28 March, 1853, Eningen, Württemberg - 20 October, 1929, Leipzig) was a German )

In the ancient Near East it was commonplace for religious scrolls to be deposited in temple walls when they were constructed (Hertz 1936), and according to the Swiss Egyptologist Naville, this was the custom amongst the Jews at the time of Solomon. King Solomon ( Ge'ez: ስለሞን Arabic: ar سليمان, Sulayman, all from the Triliteral root S-L-M, "peace" It would have been more unusual if such scrolls were not found during the renovation of a temple building, and Naville recounts a similar find recounted in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. ' The Book of the Dead' is the common name for the Ancient Egyptian Funerary text known as ' Spells of Coming' (or ' Going') ' Forth By Day' It is interesting to note in this respect that the specific text cited by Naville is one of many which are attributed to famous figures of the past, typically sons of a Pharaoh, and which are all known to have been written at a much later date.

On the assumption that Deuteronomy was forged by Josiah's priests, these scholars go on to propose that the core narrative from Genesis to 2 Kings up to Josiah's reign comprise a "Deuteronomistic History" (DtrH) written during that reign. Deuteronomy (Greek deuteronomion, Δευτερονόμιον "second law" is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament The Deuteronomist (D is one of the sources of the Torah postulated by the Documentary Hypothesis This history compiled the hypothesised "J", "E", and "D" narratives, all already textual at this point, of which the J narrative at this time would have extended into the history of David's court; the DtrH further attempted to historicise narratives of the times of Joshua and the Judges. David, Arabic: داوود or داود dawud, "beloved" was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible The hypothetical DtrH is distinguished from the surviving Biblical books in that it omits the priestly "P" narrative. The DtrH portrayed King Josiah as the ideal ruler as Deuteronomy had defined it, and thus as the rightful ruler of Judah. (This interpretation is often confused with the position of "Biblical Minimalism", which denies that David and Solomon ruled a united kingdom; but Baruch Halpern has noted that however tendentious, DtrH must still be treated as a history, and as largely accurate at least for the reign of Josiah. The Copenhagen School of Biblical Studies also known as The Minimalist School is a school of biblical Exegesis, developing out of Higher Criticism Baruch Halpern is Chaiken Family Chair in Jewish Studies in Jewish Studies at Pennsylvania State University. ) See Dating the Bible and The Bible and history. The Bible is a compilation of various texts or " books " of different ages used in the Jewish and Christian religions The historicity of the Bible addresses in what ways the Bible is historically accurate the extent to which it can be used as a historic source and what qualifications should Such claims are detailed in Who Were the Early Israelites? by William G. Dever (William B. William G Dever is an American Archaeologist, specialising in the history of Israel and the Near East in Biblical times who was Professor of Near Eastern Eerdmans Publishing Co. , Grand Rapids, MI, 2003). Another such book is The Bible Unearthed by Neil A. Silberman and Israel Finkelstein (Simon and Schuster, New York, 2001). Neil Asher Silberman (born June 19 1950 Boston Massachusetts is an Archaeologist and historian with a special interest in history archaeology public interpretation and Israel Finkelstein is an Israeli archaeologist and academic. He is currently the Jacob M

See also

• The Bible Unearthed : Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts for the possible role of Josiah in creation of the Bible. The Bible Unearthed, subtitled Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts is a 2001 book about the archaeology of ancient Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin
• Hertz J. H. (1936) The Pentateuch and Haftoras. Deuteronomy. Oxford University Press, London.

External links

• Jewish Encyclopedia: Josiah
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Josias
• Josiah -- Old Testament Model of the Shepherd as Leader by Raymond Ziebell