Josiah (649-609 BC) was King of Judah from 641 to 609 BC, succeeding Amon and preceding Jehoahaz.
Biography[]
Josiah was the son of King Amon of Judah and Queen Jedidah, and he was said to have walked in the righteous path of his ancestor David. He became king at the age of eight, and he had the High Priest Hilkiah renovate Solomon's Temple and destroyed altars to the pagan god Baal throughout his kingdom. The devout Josiah also compiled the Hebrew scriptures, with the Old Testament from the Book of Joshua to 2 Kings being assembled into one religious narrative. In 609 BC, Josiah, an ally of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, attempted to halt an Egyptian army passing through his territory to support the Babylonians in their siege of Harran, but he was fatally wounded by Egyptian archers at the Battle of Megiddo and was brought back to Jerusalem to die.