# Day 169

# Josiah Clears Idols from the Land

2 Kings 21:21–23:20

A mon, Manasseh’s son, reigned two years. He was killed by his own servants and his son Josiah reigned. Josiah was eight years old when his father died. When Josiah was sixteen years old, he began to seek God. When he was twenty, he cleared the land of idols. No king before had so completely destroyed idols in Judah. He even went outside Judah breaking altars and burning images. Josiah dug up the bones of the idols’ priests. He burned the priest’s bones with the idols they worshiped.

Two hundred years before, Jeroboam had set up a golden calf in Bethel north of Jerusalem. Josiah burned that idol and crushed it to dust. The bones of the idol priests were burned on their altars. There Josiah found a grave. “What is that grave marker I see?” he asked.

“This is the grave of the man of God from Judah. He came here when Jeroboam was offering incense. This prophet predicted that you would do what you’re doing today.”

“Let him rest,” Josiah said. “No one should move his bones.”

Questions: What did Josiah do when he was sixteen? Why would Josiah not let the prophet’s bones be moved?