2 Chronicles 34:1-7--Josiah Reigns in Judah

2 Chronicles 34:1-7
English Standard Version
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Josiah Reigns in Judah
34 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father; and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images. 4 And they chopped down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he cut down the incense altars that stood above them. And he broke in pieces the Asherim and the carved and the metal images, and he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5 He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. 6 And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around, 7 he broke down the altars and beat the Asherim and the images into powder and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

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Josiah was young when he became king (for the king's servants had assassinated his father because of how evil he was) and the LORD allowed Josiah to reign in Jerusalem for 31 years.  He was a good king doing what was right in the eyes of the LORD, not turning aside to the right or the left form what the LORD had commanded in His Law (that doesn't mean he was perfect, but it means that he personally obeyed the Law and enforced it justly).

​At the age of 16, he started to seek after the LORD, and at the age of 20, he started destroying all the idols in the Land.  Unlike his grandfather, he actually destroyed the idols--smashing them to pieces, burning them with fire, and scattering the dust and ash over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.  He also killed all the priests of these false gods and goddesses and burned them and their bones and scattered them on the graves of those who sacrificed to them.  

He also purged and cleansed the regions of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon as far as Naphtali (he went far into the northern kingdom of Israel) and when he had finished his campaign, he returned to Jerusalem and reigned there.  We'll see some more about his reign over the next several journal entries.