Josiah Loved God’s Law

Josiah became king of Judah when he was eight years old. In those days, the people were practicing magic and worshipping idols. When Josiah was 16 years old, he tried to learn how to worship Jehovah in the right way. When he was 20 years old, he started to destroy the idols and altars in all the land. And when Josiah was 26 years old, he arranged for Jehovah’s temple to be repaired.

In the temple, the high priest, Hilkiah, found the scroll of Jehovah’s Law​—maybe the very scroll that had been written by Moses. The king’s secretary Shaphan brought the scroll to Josiah and began to read the Law out loud. As Josiah listened, he realized that the people had been disobeying Jehovah for many years. King Josiah said to Hilkiah: ‘Jehovah is very angry with us. Go and speak to him. Jehovah will tell us what we should do.’ Jehovah answered through the prophetess Huldah: ‘The people of Judah have left me. They will be punished but not while Josiah is king, because he has humbled himself.’

When King Josiah heard the message, he went to the temple and called the people of Judah together. Then he read Jehovah’s Law out loud to the whole nation. Josiah and the people promised to obey Jehovah with all their hearts.

The nation of Judah had not celebrated the Passover for many years. But when Josiah read in the Law that the Passover should be celebrated every year, he told the nation: ‘We will hold a Passover to Jehovah.’ Then Josiah prepared to make many sacrifices and arranged to have a chorus of singers at the temple. Then the nation held the Passover, followed by the Festival of Unleavened Bread, which lasted for seven days. There had not been a Passover like it since the days of Samuel. Josiah really loved God’s Law. Do you enjoy learning about Jehovah?