The kingdom enjoyed its best days under David and Solomon. Once the kingdom divided, both Israel and Judah struggled. Israel was so bad that God sent the Assyrians to conquer it. Judah was a little better and lasted another one hundred and fifty years. Both nations had their share of rotten kings, but Judah had a few more good ones than Israel.

One of the best kings in Judah was one of their last. Amazingly, Josiah was only eight years old when he began to reign. Don’t worry, he had a lot of adults to help him. But still, that’s a lot of pressure. He had a country to rule over when most of us would be learning to ride our bikes!

Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of King David. In the eighth year of his reign, when he was still a boy, he began to seek after God. He paid attention to God, learned about God, and got more serious about serving God. Four years later, Josiah started to reform the worship in Judah. He tore down idols and smashed the altars and statues people were using for their false gods. Now usually it would be wrong to start breaking things, but in this case, it was a very good thing. It meant Josiah was serious about worshiping the right God in the right way.

Several years later something even more amazing happened. While some of Josiah’s men were repairing the temple, Hilkiah the priest found an old book. And it wasn’t an old comic book or cookbook. It wasn’t a book about robots or spaceships or ponies or puppies. It was the Book of the Law! You might not think a bunch of laws would be exciting, but these were no ordinary laws. This was the inspired word that the Lord had given through Moses. Hilkiah had found their Bible!

When Josiah heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes. Not because they were too small for him or because he wanted a new outfit for his birthday. He tore his clothes as a sign of grief and repentance. When they read their Bible, Josiah and his men realized the nation had been very disobedient. They knew God had a right to be angry with them.

But Josiah knew what to do. Being repentant is more than feeling bad for our sins. True repentance means we change too. So Josiah made a covenant with the Lord to obey his word. The people made the same promise, and they began once again to follow God’s holy word, keep his holy days, and serve him in holy ways.