Day 178 - 2 Chronicles 32, 2 Kings 21-22

“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord” for the thirty-one years in which he reigned. In the eighteenth year from the beginning of his rule, he began to purify Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In fact, he removed the foreign religions introduced by Manasseh and overturned the sanctuaries and altars. In the same eighteenth year he ordered an expiation of the temple and commanded the priests to make repairs. He brought in workers, gathered stones, materials and other things useful to building and supplied the money for the expected expenses, and in this case he religiously emulated the pious zeal of his great-grandfather Jehoash. [See 2Ki 12:4-16.] And at that time the refurbishment of the temple was not less necessary than it had been before, because for the fifty years in which Manasseh had reigned, [See 2Ki 21:1-18.] it had been neglected or given to profane uses—Mari Ephrem the Syrian