2 Kings 22:1 - Exposition

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign. So the writer of Chronicles ( 2 Chronicles 34:1 ) and Josephus ('Ant. Jud.,' 10.4. § 1). He must have been born, therefore, when his father was no more than sixteen years of age, and Amen must have married when he was only fifteen. And he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. Probably from B.C. 640 to B.C. 609—a most important period of the world's history, including, as it does,

And his mother's name was Jedidah —i.e. "Darling"— the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. Boscath is mentioned as among the cities of Judah ( Joshua 15:39 ). It lay in the Shefelah ( Joshua 15:33 ), not far from Lachish and Eglon. The recent explorers of Palestine identify it with the modern Um-el-Bikar , two miles and a half southeast of Ajlun (Eglon). (See the 'Map of Western Palestine,' published by Mr. Trelawny Saunders.)