King Josiah: Raising Kids Who Follow God | Biblical Parenting & Chronological Bible Reading

What can Christian moms learn from a king who began seeking God while he was still a boy? In today’s episode of The Dwelling Place Bible Podcast for Busy Moms, we continue our chronological Bible reading plan through 2 Kings 22–23 and 2 Chronicles 34–35 and study the remarkable life of King Josiah.

Josiah grew up surrounded by ungodly influences. His father, Amon, was wicked, and his grandfather, Manasseh, led Judah into horrific idolatry. Yet Josiah chose to seek the Lord. As a young man, he led a sweeping spiritual reform throughout Judah, destroyed idols and places of false worship, restored the temple, rediscovered the Book of the Law, and led the people back toward obedience to God.

For Christian moms, Josiah's story offers powerful encouragement: our children can faithfully follow God even when the culture around them is pulling them in another direction. We can teach our kids that their age does not limit God's ability to use them for His glory.

In this episode, we explore:

• How Josiah sought the Lord while still young
• Why godly parenting matters even when we cannot control the choices our children make
• How Josiah's wicked family heritage did not determine his spiritual legacy
• The discovery of the Book of the Law during the restoration of the temple
• Why hearing God's Word led Josiah to repentance and action
• The importance of being thorough and zealous in putting sin to death
• How Josiah removed idols and eliminated opportunities for false worship
• The restoration of the Passover and what it teaches us about remembering God's salvation
• Why Christian parents should teach children to recognize and reject cultural influences that compete with God's Word
• The difficult ending to Josiah's life and what it teaches us about trusting God's sovereignty
• Why obedience does not always come with an earthly blessing or the outcome we expect
• How Josiah's life demonstrates that children and teenagers can make a lasting impact for God's kingdom

Biblical Parenting: Teaching Our Kids to Follow God

One of the most encouraging parts of Josiah's story is that God used a young person to accomplish significant things for His glory.

Josiah did not wait until he was older to seek the Lord. He didn't allow the wickedness of previous generations to determine his own obedience. And he didn't settle for doing the minimum. When God's Word revealed sin, Josiah responded with humility, repentance, and action.

That gives Christian parents an important opportunity: we can encourage our children to pursue Christ wholeheartedly right now.

Our goal isn't merely to raise well-behaved children. We want to raise children who know God's Word, love Jesus, recognize sin, repent when they are wrong, and courageously follow God even when doing so is countercultural.

A Challenge for Christian Moms

Josiah's life causes us to ask:

Do I obey God even when He hasn't promised the outcome I want?

Am I willing to be thorough and zealous in putting sin to death?

Am I teaching my children that they can faithfully follow God regardless of what is happening around them?

God's Word does not return void. The seeds we plant through Scripture, prayer, and faithful example can have an impact far beyond what we are able to see.

Today's Bible Reading

📖 2 Kings 22–23

📖 2 Chronicles 34–35

This episode is part of The Dwelling Place Bible Podcast for Busy Moms, a chronological Bible reading journey designed to help busy Christian women stay in God's Word and understand Scripture in its biblical context.

Whether you're following a chronological Bible plan, looking for a Bible podcast for moms, or seeking practical encouragement for Christian parenting and biblical parenting, The Dwelling Place is here to help you faithfully study the Word of God one passage at a time.

Scripture Focus

“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.” — 2 Chronicles 34:2

May we pray that our children will seek the Lord from a young age, refuse to turn aside from His Word, and faithfully follow Him for His glory.

Listen, study the Bible, and grow in faith with us on The Dwelling Place Bible Podcast for Busy Moms.

What can Christian moms learn from a king who began seeking God while he was still a boy? In today’s episode of The Dwelling Place Bible Podcast for Busy Moms, we continue our chronological Bible reading plan through 2 Kings 22–23 and 2 Chronicles 34–35 and study the remarkable life of King Josiah.

Josiah grew up surrounded by ungodly influences. His father, Amon, was wicked, and his grandfather, Manasseh, led Judah into horrific idolatry. Yet Josiah chose to seek the Lord. As a young man, he led a sweeping spiritual reform throughout Judah, destroyed idols and places of false worship, restored the temple, rediscovered the Book of the Law, and led the people back toward obedience to God.

For Christian moms, Josiah's story offers powerful encouragement: our children can faithfully follow God even when the culture around them is pulling them in another direction. We can teach our kids that their age does not limit God's ability to use them for His glory.

In this episode, we explore:

• How Josiah sought the Lord while still young
• Why godly parenting matters even when we cannot control the choices our children make
• How Josiah's wicked family heritage did not determine his spiritual legacy
• The discovery of the Book of the Law during the restoration of the temple
• Why hearing God's Word led Josiah to repentance and action
• The importance of being thorough and zealous in putting sin to death
• How Josiah removed idols and eliminated opportunities for false worship
• The restoration of the Passover and what it teaches us about remembering God's salvation
• Why Christian parents should teach children to recognize and reject cultural influences that compete with God's Word
• The difficult ending to Josiah's life and what it teaches us about trusting God's sovereignty
• Why obedience does not always come with an earthly blessing or the outcome we expect
• How Josiah's life demonstrates that children and teenagers can make a lasting impact for God's kingdom

Biblical Parenting: Teaching Our Kids to Follow God

One of the most encouraging parts of Josiah's story is that God used a young person to accomplish significant things for His glory.

Josiah did not wait until he was older to seek the Lord. He didn't allow the wickedness of previous generations to determine his own obedience. And he didn't settle for doing the minimum. When God's Word revealed sin, Josiah responded with humility, repentance, and action.

That gives Christian parents an important opportunity: we can encourage our children to pursue Christ wholeheartedly right now.

Our goal isn't merely to raise well-behaved children. We want to raise children who know God's Word, love Jesus, recognize sin, repent when they are wrong, and courageously follow God even when doing so is countercultural.

A Challenge for Christian Moms

Josiah's life causes us to ask:

Do I obey God even when He hasn't promised the outcome I want?

Am I willing to be thorough and zealous in putting sin to death?

Am I teaching my children that they can faithfully follow God regardless of what is happening around them?

God's Word does not return void. The seeds we plant through Scripture, prayer, and faithful example can have an impact far beyond what we are able to see.

Today's Bible Reading

📖 2 Kings 22–23

📖 2 Chronicles 34–35

This episode is part of The Dwelling Place Bible Podcast for Busy Moms, a chronological Bible reading journey designed to help busy Christian women stay in God's Word and understand Scripture in its biblical context.

Whether you're following a chronological Bible plan, looking for a Bible podcast for moms, or seeking practical encouragement for Christian parenting and biblical parenting, The Dwelling Place is here to help you faithfully study the Word of God one passage at a time.

Scripture Focus

“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.” — 2 Chronicles 34:2

May we pray that our children will seek the Lord from a young age, refuse to turn aside from His Word, and faithfully follow Him for His glory.

Listen, study the Bible, and grow in faith with us on The Dwelling Place Bible Podcast for Busy Moms.

Resources Mentioned:

• Entrusted With a Child's Heart
• The Again Podcast: Interview with Chris McKenna Part 1, Part 2
• Full-Circle Discipline Resources
• Journey Through the Bible

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary

This is the Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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Today, as we focus on the thoroughness

and zeal of King Josiah's reign in 2 Kings

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22 and 23 and 2 Chronicles 34 and 35,

I want us to ask ourselves, do we obey

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God even when a blessing isn't promised?

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And do we fervently put

sin to death in our lives?

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I want us to be reminded to encourage our

kids that even children and teenagers can

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make an incredible impact for the Lord

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I love King Josiah so much That one of

my sons has the middle name of Josiah

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Josiah wholeheartedly served

God from an early age and

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obeyed all that he knew to do

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Let's start out looking at his

life beginning in 2 Chronicles 34

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Because we're given a little bit more

detail about his earlier years here.

14

Josiah was eight years old when he began

to reign, and he reigned thirty-one

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years in Jerusalem, and he did what

was right in the eyes of the Lord,

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and walked in the ways of David his

father, and he did not turn aside

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to the right hand or to the left.

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For in the eighth year of his reign,

while he was yet a boy, he began to

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seek the God of David his father.

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Now, David lived hundreds of years

before Josiah, so he's not his biological

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father, but scripture is telling us

that he was his spiritual father.

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Josiah's actual father was the wicked

King Ammon, And his grandfather was

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the relentlessly wicked Manasseh.

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His great-grandfather was Hezekiah,

but given the fact that Josiah was only

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eight years old when he became king,

It seems that he couldn't have been too

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influenced by Hezekiah's righteous reign.

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He's mostly had very evil influences

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And yet, in the twelfth year of his

reign, he began to purge Judah and

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Jerusalem of the high places, the

Asherim, and the carved and metal images.

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He didn't just make these

changes in Jerusalem, he did it

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throughout the land, even extending

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into the former northern kingdom,

which Assyria had conquered.

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He is trying to undo all the

wickedness that God's people have done

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and he tries to take away many

opportunities to worship false gods

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His devotion and fervency is inspiring.

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He breaks down much of the influence

his father and grandfather had upon

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the land, and I love how powerfully

God used this teenage boy to do his

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work And next, in the 18th year of

his reign, so he's probably 26 at this

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point, he has it on his heart that the

temple of the Lord would be restored

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if we remember the purpose of the Book

of Chronicles, it was to encourage

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the people coming back from exile to

restore themselves to faithfulness to

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God and to get the temple in order.

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When they read about the temple being

in disrepair in the days of Josiah and

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the people faithfully restoring it,

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that would've been so encouraging

for them to hear as they

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embarked upon the same endeavor

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It's during this restoration

project that we read in verse 14

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something of paramount importance.

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While they were bringing out the

money that had been brought into

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the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the

priest found the Book of the Law

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of the Lord given through Moses.

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Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan

the secretary, " I have found the Book

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of the Law in the house of the Lord."

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And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.

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Shaphan brought the book to the

king and further reported to the

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king, " all that was committed

to your servants, they are doing.

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They have emptied out the money

that was found in the house of the

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Lord and have given it into the hand

of the overseers and the workmen."

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Then Shaphan the secretary told the king,

" Hilkiah the priest has given me a book."

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And Shaphan read it from before the king.

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And when the king heard the words

of the law, he tore his clothes.

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You might be wondering, how

could this book have been lost?

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Scrolls were incredibly valuable,

and the Book of the Law was

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never to depart from the king.

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But in all the faithfulness and

the idolatry of the wicked kings

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before Josiah, many scrolls

had been lost or destroyed

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I really appreciate the

insight that David C.

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Cook gives.

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He says the Book of the Law was

probably not found on a dusty shelf or

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in a forgotten corner of the temple.

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In ancient times, it was common for

important documents to be placed in

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the cornerstone of a new building.

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In Josiah's day, his workmen were

making extensive repairs to the temple.

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The old cornerstone that Solomon had

laid over three and a half centuries

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before was probably cracked or broken,

and when the workmen arrived to fix or

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replace it, they found the important book

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And now listen to what Kevin

Zuber says about the way that the

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chronicler tells us this story.

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" The skill of the chronicler's

narrative should be noted.

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The reader knows the significance

of this book- But as yet, no one

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handling it seems to realize it,

and the narrative builds suspense.

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Will anyone recognize

this book for what it is,

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significantly, it was the Davidic

king who recognized the book's meaning

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Instantly, Josiah understood a project

more vital than the restoration of the

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temple needed to be undertaken, namely the

restoration of the nation to obedience.

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So next, Josiah sends messengers

to inquire of a prophetess

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named Huldah, who is a woman.

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She's obviously earned herself a

respectable reputation scripture doesn't

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explain why Josiah doesn't seek out

some of the contemporary prophets of

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his day, such as Jeremiah or Zephaniah

or Nahum, but God uses this woman

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to proclaim that he will be faithful

to do what he has said in his word

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He is going to bring judgment

upon the nation of Judah.

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Though there are many times that God

offers a chance to repent to alter

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His plan, this is not one of them.

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However, Josiah is going to be blessed

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because his heart was tender and he

humbled himself and wept before the Lord.

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God promises that he will die before the

destruction of Jerusalem and that he'll

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be buried with his fathers Even though a

blessing is not offered for the people's

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repentance or their obedience, still

King Josiah gathers everyone together.

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Both great and small.

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And he doesn't assign

someone else to read it.

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Josiah himself reads in their hearing

all the words of the Book of the

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Covenant and the king leads by making

a covenant before the Lord with

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all his heart and with all his soul

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He guides the people to join in with him,

and as long as he was reigning, the people

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did follow through with this commitment

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Next, Josiah takes away

all the abominations

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throughout the land of Judah

and Israel, and this is what

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our reading will be for today.

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As I was studying it, I felt the

banner over this chapter is and.

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It seems that Josiah was never

satisfied with doing just enough.

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He repeatedly went above and

beyond, zealous and thorough are

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the perfect words to describe

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These righteous reforms

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I'll begin reading in 2 Kings 23:4

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And the king commanded Hilkiah the high

priest, and the priests of the second

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order, and the keepers of the threshold,

to bring out of the temple of the Lord

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all the vessels made for Baal, for

Asherah, and for all the host of heaven.

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He burnt them outside Jerusalem

in the fields of the Kidron, and

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carried their ashes to Bethel.

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And he deposed the priests whom the

kings of Judah had ordained to make

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offerings in the high places at the

cities of Judah and around Jerusalem.

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Those also who burnt incense

to Baal, to the sun and the

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moon and the constellations and

all the host of the heavens.

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And he brought out the Asherah from the

house of the Lord outside Jerusalem and

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burnt it at the brook Kidron, and beat

it to dust, and cast the dust of it

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upon the graves of the common people.

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And he broke down the houses of the

male cult prostitutes who were in

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the house of the Lord, where the

woman wove hangings for the Asherah.

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And he brought all the priests out of

all the cities of Judah and defiled

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the high places where the priests had

made offerings from Geba to Beersheba.

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And he broke down the high places

of the gate of Joshua, the governor

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of the city, which were on one's

left at the gate of the city.

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However, the priests of the high

places did not come up to the altar

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of the Lord in Jerusalem, But they ate

unleavened bread among their brothers.

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And he defiled Topheth, which is

in the valley of the son of Hinnom,

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that no one might burn his son or his

daughter as an offering to Molech.

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And he removed the horses that the

kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun

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at the entrance to the house of the

Lord, by the chamber of Nathan Malek,

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the chamberlain, which was in the

precincts, and he burned the chariots

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of the sun with fire, and the altars on

the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz,

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which the kings of Judah had made, and

the altars that Manasseh had made in

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the two courts of the house of the Lord.

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He pulled down and broke in

pieces, and cast the dust of

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them into the brook Kidron.

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And the king defiled the high places

that were east of Jerusalem, to the

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south of the mount of corruption,

which Solomon the king of Israel had

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built for Ashtoreth, the abominations

of the Sidians, and for Chemosh the

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abomination of Moab, and for Milcom

the abomination of the Ammonites.

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And he broke in pieces the pillars,

and cut down the Asherim, and filled

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their places with the bones of men.

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Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high

place erected by Jeroboam, the son of

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Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that

altar with the high place he pulled

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down and burned, reducing it to dust.

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He also burned the Asherah.

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And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs

there on the mount, and he sent and took

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the bones of the tombs and burned them

on the altar, and defiled it according to

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the word of the Lord that the man of God

proclaimed who had predicted these things

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and Josiah removed all the shrines also

of the high places that were in the

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cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel

had made, provoking the Lord to anger.

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He did to them according to all

that they had done at Bethel.

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And he sacrificed all the priests of

the high places who were there on the

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altars, and burned human bones on them.

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then he returned to Jerusalem

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josiah doesn't just

destroy or burn things.

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He turns the remnant to ashes and

often scatters those ashes on wicked

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places, which was a sign of defilement.

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In 2 Chronicles 35, we read a detailed

account of Josiah's faithfulness

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to restore the Passover feast.

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This was the main feast celebrating God's

salvation and redemption for the nation.

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Josiah uses his own money and resources

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and returns the people to honoring

this feast exactly as God had

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commanded the Passover hadn't been

celebrated as thoroughly since the

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days of Samuel the prophet, which was

before any of the kings began to reign

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Next, he puts away the mediums

and the necromancers even

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household gods and idols.

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It's so inspiring the extent to which

he is removing any opportunity for

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the people to worship false gods

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Scripture tells us, " Before him there

was no king like him who turned to

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the Lord with all his heart and with

all his soul and with all his might,

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according to all the law of Moses,

nor did any like him arise after him."

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But the next verse declares,

"Still the Lord did not turn from

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the burning of His great wrath.

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God has been warning the people

over and over for hundreds of years.

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And they haven't listened.

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But there is this brief season where

Josiah returns the people to righteousness

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it's so encouraging as a mom that

God could use a child or a teenager

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to make such an impact for Him

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and it's because of Josiah's

upstanding example that many wrestle

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with the way his reign ends

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Let's take a moment to be

reminded what's happening

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around Judah at this point

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The ruler of Egypt at this

time was Pharaoh Necho.

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He was a pagan king who

had a love for the sea.

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It's possible he invented the trireme

ship, and he even began creating

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something similar to the Suez Canal.

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Egypt has been a declining

power for some time, and Assyria

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has been the main world power.

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The Babylonians have been gaining

strength and they're coming against the

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Assyrians So Feroniko Determined to align

with Assyria to hopefully cut off the

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Babylonians from gaining power There was

a trade route that went from Egypt near

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the Mediterranean Sea and into Mesopotamia

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pharaoh Necho was coming up along

this trade route, there's this

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spot that was located in the northern

kingdom of Israel named Megiddo.

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This is a pivotal place for trading,

but it's also been a pivotal battle spot

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the victory that Deborah and

Barak had in Judges 5, and the

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victory God gave to Gideon.

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But there have been tragedies as well,

including the death of Saul and his

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sons, and the one we'll read about today.

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It's also been the site of numerous

battles throughout history, including

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Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Napoleon,

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And Revelation 16 tells us that this

historical location will be the Battle

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of Armageddon because the word Megiddo

translates to Armageddon in Greek

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Recently, archeologists uncovered

a considerable amount of Egyptian

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pottery from the seventh century BC in

this area, there's such an extensive

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amount that it confirms that Pharaoh

Necho and his military presence was

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at Megiddo during the time of Josiah

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and though this location of Megiddo

was in the northern kingdom of Israel,

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which at this point was being ruled

by the Assyrians, it seems Josiah

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was zealous to restore this land

to the Lord Pharonico says, move

221

aside and don't get in the way."

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He even says that he's

doing the work of the Lord.

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He was certainly a pagan king.

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So you can understand why Josiah would

be reluctant to believe him but Pharaoh

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Neco says to him, "Cease opposing God

who is with me, lest he destroy you."

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And next, we read these ominous

words: " Nevertheless, Josiah did

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not turn away from him, but disguised

himself in order to fight with him.

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He did not listen to the words of

Neco from the mouth of God, but came

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to fight in the plain of Megiddo.

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And the archers shot King Josiah,

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his servants bring him back

to Jerusalem where he dies and

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is buried with his ancestors

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The nation grieves for decades

to come at the loss of this

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wonderful God-honoring king

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I always wanna be careful That we don't

assign motive where scripture is silent.

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Some say that Josiah was being prideful

and trying to expand the territory

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of Israel but perhaps it was just

zeal to defeat the enemies of the

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Lord It's a complex situation, but

I'm certain that as he was being

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carried away from the battlefield,

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he realized that God was warning

him through Pharaoh Nico The last

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time I studied the life of Josiah,

I was truly grieved by the story

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And I recall asking the Lord, "Why

would you allow this to happen to

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a man that was so faithful to you?"

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However, after walking through scripture

once again and seeing the sovereignty

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of God in king after king, I don't

see Josiah's death as a punishment or

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a lack of faithfulness on God's part.

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Josiah is not grieving now.

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God promised that He would protect him

from seeing the downfall of Jerusalem

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And Judah is still on this trajectory

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Could God have protected

Josiah in the battle?

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Absolutely.

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Could He have warned him

with a more reliable source?

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Certainly.

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And He even could have

made the arrow miss Josiah.

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But God allowed his life to come to an

end I'm reminded of Jeroboam's son in

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1 Kings 14, who got sick, and God said,

"Your child shall die because in him there

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is found something pleasing to the Lord."

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Sometimes God knows what's

coming is so terrible that He

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spares people through death

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And now not only does Josiah get

to spend eternity with the Lord

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he loves so much, he has the honor

of leaving a legacy to Judah.

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I can't wait To study more with you and

reveal to you who was in the audience

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that Josiah read the words of the Lord to.

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And isn't it incredible that instead

of these people going into exile not

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knowing the word of the Lord, they have

heard it all from the mouth of Josiah,

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The word of God does not return void.

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I believe seeds were planted that

day and were rooted in hearts,

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Josiah's life mattered deeply

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And that encourages me to

teach my kids that no matter

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what is happening around them

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they can faithfully and counterculturally

follow God and that he can use them to

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make an incredible impact for his glory

Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can

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trust you to accomplish your purposes.

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Even when we can't understand them,

we pray you would give us a deeply

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rooted trust in your goodness Help

us to be sensitive to your Holy

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Spirit, and when you convict us of

sin, I pray we would be zealous like

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Josiah to cut it off, whether it's

in what we see hear, say or do May we

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be thoroughly obedient to your word.

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We pray for our kids that they, like

Josiah, would seek you from a young

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age, purging impurity from their hearts

and their lives, we pray they would

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not turn to the right or to the left

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but follow the narrow path that leads

to you And Lord, for us all, I pray

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we would weigh every word heeding words

of wisdom and casting off foolishness,

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seeking you above all other sources

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Jesus, we love you and we thank

you for the hope of eternity.

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That when our bodies perish,

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We can be confident our

souls will live with you.

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Amen.