Josiah Succeeds Amon in Judah
34 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2 He did right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. 3 For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images. 4 They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars that were high above them he chopped down; also the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images he broke in pieces and ground to powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5 Then he burned the bones of the priests on their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem. 6 In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, even as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding ruins, 7 he also tore down the altars and beat the Asherim and the carved images into powder, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
Josiah Repairs the Temple
8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah an official of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. 9 They came to Hilkiah the high priest and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the [a]doorkeepers, had collected [b]from Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 Then they gave it into the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord [c]used it to restore and repair the house. 11 They in turn gave it to the carpenters and to the builders to buy quarried stone and timber for couplings and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had let go to ruin. 12 The men did the work faithfully with foremen over them to supervise: Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites of the sons of Merari, Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites, and the Levites, all who were skillful with musical instruments. 13 They were also over the burden bearers, and supervised all the workmen from job to job; and some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers.
Josiah is a somewhat well-known king of Judah, partially because he was only eight years old when he became king. For all his father’s wickedness, Josiah must have had some other family or advisors who made an impact in his young life to set him on the right path.
By the time Josiah was sixteen, we know he was seeking God, though perhaps he was not yet in full control, since such a young king would likely have had “stewards” or “regents” to manage the affairs of the kingdom properly. But when he was twenty, he certainly had taken charge and began to clean house. There still remained some relics of idol worship from before his grandfather’s dramatic repentance, and his father (Amon) certainly did his share to promote idol worship in his brief reign.
Josiah left none of it standing, and even went so far as to grind many of the idols into dust. With the other tribes leaderless, he even extended this “house cleaning” outside of Judah’s borders, just as Hezekiah and Manasseh had done.
It shows that while the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” the heart of a child can be turned to good even quicker when surrounded by positive influence. If you have children in your life who need a positive guide, do not take that for granted. Show them the love of God, and encouragement them to learn more about Him also.
Though it may seem the odds are stacked against them, there’s no telling how God might use each of us to train up the next generation. It cannot be left to “chance”, but we must be intentional to live for God, and take special care to take seriously our responsibility as “light bearers”. In that way, all who see our lives, and especially the children, will learn to give glory to God for his goodness and love.