2 Chronicles 34:3

“For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, etc.] Being in the sixteenth year of his age; though Kimchi thinks it was the very year he began to reign, which was the eighth of his age; and Jarchi observes, it may be interpreted, “though he was young, he began to seek after the God of David his father”; to pray unto him, to seek after the knowledge of him, and the true manner of worshipping him, what were his will, commands, and ordinances; the Targum is, “to seek instruction or doctrine of the Lord God of David his father,” to be taught his ways, such as David his great ancestor walked in, and whom he chose to follow: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and…”

“HE DESTROYS IDOLATRY. (Ch2 34:3-7) in the eighth year of his reign--This was the sixteenth year of his age, and, as the kings of Judah were considered minors till they had completed their thirteenth year, it was three years after he had attained majority. He had very early manifested the piety and excellent dispositions of his character. In the twelfth year of his reign, but the twentieth of his age, he began to take a lively interest in the purgation of his kingdom from all the monuments of idolatry which, in his father's short reign, had been erected. At a later period, his increasing zeal for securing the purity of divine worship led him to superintend the work of demolition in various…”

“He began to purge Judah - Jeremiah’s first prophecies Jer. 2–3 appear to have been coincident with Josiah’s earlier efforts to uproot idolatry, and must have greatly strengthened his hands. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Young - ln the sixteenth year of his age; when he was entering into the age of temptation, and had the administration of his kingdom wholly in his own power, and none to restrain him; even then he begins to be religious in good earnest. 2 Chronicles 34:6”

“34:3 Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David when he was just sixteen. He initiated his own acts of reform when he reached age twenty.”

“am 3370, bc 634 Kg2 18:4 while he: Ch1 22:5, Ch1 29:1; Psa 119:9; Ecc 12:1; Ti2 3:15 to seek: Ch2 15:2; Ch1 28:9; Pro 8:17; Mat 6:33 purge: Ch2 33:17, Ch2 33:22; Lev 26:30; Kg2 23:4, Kg2 23:14 the high places: Ch2 30:14 2 Chronicles 34:4”

“Extirpation of idolatry. In the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a youth, being then only sixteen years old, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year of his reign he commenced to purify Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, Asherim, etc. The cleansing of the land of Judah from the numerous objects of idolatry is summarily described in Ch2 34:4 and Ch2 34:5; and thereupon there follows ( Ch2 34:6 and Ch2 34:7) the destruction of the idolatrous altars and images in the land of Israel, - all that it seemed necessary to say on that subject being thus mentioned at once. For that all this was not accomplished in the twelfth year is clear from the…”