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Our Past in Present Tense

Who Was the Greatest King Of All?
San Diego Jewish Times, August 8, 1996

By Dr. Yehuda Shabatay

If someone would take a survey and ask you "Who was the greatest Jewish king: a) David, b) Solomon, c) Neither (name your own candidate)"—how would you respond? Your first inclination might be to look at the historical books of the Bible and search for the answer there. Let's follow your inclination.

As far as David is concerned, the First Book of Kings presents his last, rather vengeful instructions to his son, Solomon, and then states: "And David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years" (2:1`0-11), i.e., from about 1000 B.C.E. to approximately 960 B.C.E.  His son's reign is summarized exactly the same way: "And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David (11:42-43) around 920 B.C.E.  This is all; no evaluation of their lives and many deeds, no adulation.

Three centuries pass and many more kings rule over Israel and Judah. Some earn mild praise from the biblical historians; others are despised—until Josiah occupies the throne of the southern kingdom of Judah (640-609 B.C.E.) Suddenly, we find the following statement in the Second Book of Kings: "And like unto him there was no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him" (23:25)

Why would Josiah deserve such esteem—the highest accorded to an individual in the entire Hebrew Bible?  Who was Josiah, and what did he accomplish in the course of his reign?

We are told that Menasheh, his grandfather, was one of the most miserable rulers over Judah, and that his father, Amon, was no better. After two years on the throne, Amon was assassinated (II Kings 21:16-26) and his 8-year-old son, Josiah, began to rule for 31 years. In this period of time the Assyrian empire crumbled and Judah ceased to be its vassal.  Furthermore, Judah may have extended its borders to parts of the province of Samaria (the former kingdom of Israel) that may have been abandoned by the Assyrians.

Territorial expansion and a relatively long period of peace probably brought economic prosperity, too. However, in the final years of Josiah's reign the international situation changed rapidly; the Babylonians began to emerge in the east, while Egypt became an ally of moribund Assyria. For some reason, Josiah tried to block the passage of Egyptian forces through his territory. He died in a battle near Megiddo, without achieving his aim.

These facts, narrated in the Bible, are far from extraordinary.  David's and Solomon's empire was much larger and, probably, at least as prosperous. It was not threatened by any superpower, and both kings died in peace. Furthermore, Josiah was an 8-year-old child when he became king; therefore, he must have been guided by adult advisors through much of his reign.

As a result, the question still stands: what made him so unique in the eyes of the biblical historians?

The answer is given in the Books of Kings and Chronicles in no uncertain terms: he fought for radical monotheism and saved it for posterity.  Only 12 years after his death, in 597 B.C.E., the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem and deported some of the leaders of Judah into exile. And another decade later, in 587 B.C.E., the city and the Temple were destroyed and the bulk of the country's population was taken into Babylonia. Yet, due to Josiah's efforts, Judaism survived on a foreign soil, against all odds.

The biblical historians who lived after the tragic events described with great admiration all the steps Josiah took during his reign; he removed the pagan cultic symbols and eliminated the high places of worship (bamot, in Hebrew) from both the northern and southern parts of the kingdom, as well as from the neighboring lands that were his vassals. He strengthened the position of the Temple in Jerusalem as the sole, undisputed sanctuary of all Jews, and reinforced the Davidic dynasty's claim to be the legitimate ruler of the Jewish state.

But the highlight of the reform was Josiah's response to the finding of "the book of Law" in the house of the Lord. He ordered its public reading and immediate acceptance as a covenant between the Jewish people and G-d. In the eyes of the historians the enactment of this document signified the greatest religious and national awakening in Judaism. While at Sinai they witnessed a divine revelation, in Josiah's days they turned the divine law into their constitution. From that moment on this "book of Law" became the most valuable resource for a "portable" religion that has survived all catastrophes.

When we analyze the descriptions of David's and Solomon's deeds and compare them with Josiah's, the latter comes out surely ahead. The Bible tells how David coveted someone else's wife, how Solomon tolerated his foreign wives' idols, but it does not make a single derogatory statement about Josiah. On the contrary, it describes him as a perfect embodiment of the words of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:9): he turned to the Lord "with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might."  Who else could be considered as the greatest king of all? 

Dr. Yehuda Shabatay received rabbinical training in Budapest, a master of jurisprudence degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and his doctorate in Hebrew literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. He was engaged in Jewish educational administration over most of his career and now teaches Jewish studies and history at Palomar and City Colleges.