Born circa 647 B.C. died 609 B.C. in Megiddo. King of Judah from 639 to 609.
By taking advantage of the weakening of Assyria and of a favorable international situation, Josiah was able to liberate Judah from dependence on Assyria, which had lasted more than 70 years, and to annex a considerable portion of the former Kingdom of Israel. In 628 B.C., Josiah began to carry out a religious-political reform, manifested in the centralization of the worship of Yahweh at the temple in Jerusalem and the struggle against local religions. In 622, in the course of his reform, Josiah promulgated what was called the Book of the Covenant or Book of the Law, which is identified as part of the Book of Deuteronomy in the redaction of the beginning of the seventh century B.C. In the modern canon it appears in a later redaction. There are facts indicating that Josiah took measures to improve the conditions of the lower social classes.