Charlie (@clong5604)

 The period from the end of David’s reign to the beginning of Josiah’s reign covers roughly **330 years**. God's ways had been so neglected by the kings and leaders of Jerusalem that the Book of God’s Law had been lost and forgotten!  In the 18th year of his reign, Josiah sent his secretary, Shaphan, to the temple to tell the high priest Hilkiah to restore the neglected house of God. Carpenters, builders, and masons set to work. In the process, Hilkiah said to Shaphan, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD” ([2 Kings 22:8](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2022%3A8&version=NIV?&utm_source=zbibles&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nivnews01122026)).  When the Book of God’s Law was read to King Josiah, he tore his robes (see [2 Kings 22:11](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2022%3A11&version=NIV?&utm_source=zbibles&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nivnews01122026)). The words pierced his heart, and he knew immediately that the people of Judah had not been living according to [God’s will](https://www.thenivbible.com/blog/products/walking-in-gods-will/).  Josiah ordered that the idols and items made for false gods be removed from the temple and destroyed. He did away with the false priests who had been appointed by the kings that went before him. It was a national cleanup: Josiah did everything he could to abolish all idolatry from Judah.  Everything Josiah did, he did in accordance with what he read in God’s Law (see [2 Kings 23:24](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2023%3A24&version=NIV?&utm_source=zbibles&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nivnews01122026)). In a stunning and wonderful summary of Josiah’s reform efforts in Judah, the Bible says: “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses” (2 Kings 23:25). [Josiah and the Transforming Power of God’s Word - NIV Bible NIV Bible](https://www.thenivbible.com/blog/josiah-in-the-bible/?utm_source=zbibles&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nivnews01122026&utm_term=NIV%20News%20-%2060%20Day%20Engaged)