JOSIAH, or, in Hebrew, Yoʾshiyyahu, was a king of Judah (c. 640–609 BCE). Josiah came to the throne at eight years of age upon the assassination of his father, Amon. The account of his reign in 2 Kings 22–23 is almost entirely taken up with a presentation of his cultic reform program in the eighteenth year. The parallel account in the much later history of 2 Chronicles 34–35, which divides this reform activity between the twelfth and eighteenth years, probably has no independent validity and so should not be used in the reconstruction of the events of his reign.

The version in Kings states that during the course of the renovations of the Temple a "book of the law" (sefer ha-torah) was found. Its contents raised great consternation in the royal court and led to a large-scale reform program to purify the cult in Jerusalem. This last act meant the obliteration of...