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JOSIAH (Heb. yo' shiyydhu, perhaps " ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 521 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOSIAH (Heb. yo' shiyydhu, perhaps " Yah [weh] supports ")  , in the See also:Bible, the See also:grandson of See also:Manasseh, and See also:king of See also:Judah . He came to the See also:throne at the See also:age of eight, after the See also:murder of his predecessor Amon . The circumstances of his minority are not recorded, nor is anything related of the Scythian inroads which occurred in the latter See also:half of the 7th See also:century B.C., although some passages in the books of See also:Jeremiah and See also:Zephaniah are supposed to refer to the events . The See also:storm which shook the See also:external states was favourable to the See also:peace of Judah; the See also:Assyrian See also:power was practically broken, and that of the Chaldeans had scarcely See also:developed into an aggressive See also:form . See also:Samaria thus See also:lay within the grasp of See also:Josiah, who may have entertained hopes of forming an See also:independent power of his own . Otherwise, it is not clear why we find him opposing himself to the See also:Egyptian king Necho, since the See also:assumption that he fought as an Assyrian See also:vassal scarcely agrees with the profound reforming policy ascribed to him . At all events, at the See also:battle of Megiddo' he lost both his See also:kingdom and his See also:life (6o8 B.C.), and for a few years Judah was in the hands of See also:Egypt (2 See also:Kings See also:xxiii . 29 seq.) . The chronicler gives a rather different See also:account of the battle, and his allusion to the See also:dirge uttered by Jeremiah over his See also:death (2 ChroA. See also:xxxv . 20-25; 1 Esd. i . 32) represents the tradition which makes this See also:prophet the author of the See also:book of See also:Lamentations . The reign of Josiah is important for the biblical account of the See also:great religious reforms which began in his eighteenth See also:year, when he manifested See also:interest in the repair cf the See also:Temple at See also:Jerusalem .

In the course of this See also:

work the high See also:priest Hilkiah discovered a " See also:law-book " which gave rise to the liveliest concern . The reasons for believing that this See also:roll was substantially identical with the book of See also:Deuteronomy were already appreciated by See also:Jerome, See also:Chrysostom, See also:Theodoret and others,' and a careful examination shows that the See also:character of the See also:reformation which followed agrees in all its essential features with the prescriptions and exhortations of that book . (See DEUTERONOMY.) But the detailed records in 2 Kings xxii. seq. are evidently written under the See also:influence of the reforms themselves, and are not contemporary (see KINGS, BOOK OF) . They are further See also:expanded, to agree with still later ideals, in 2 Chron. xxxiv. seq . The See also:original roll was See also:short enough to be read at least twice in a See also:day (xxii . 8, 1o), and hence only some portions of Deuteronomy (or of an allied See also:production) may be intended . Although the character of the reforms throws remarkable See also:light upon the See also:condition of See also:religion in Judah in the See also:time of Josiah, it is to be observed that the writings of the contemporary prophets (Jeremiah, See also:Ezekiel) make it very questionable whether the narratives are thoroughly trustworthy for the See also:history of the king's See also:measures . (See further See also:JEws, § 16.) (S . A . C.) JbSIKA, MIKLOS [See also:NICHOLAS], See also:BARON (1794-1865), Hungarian novelist, was See also:born on the 28th of See also:April 1794 at Torda in Transylvania, of aristocratic and wealthy parents . After See also:finishing the usual course of legal studies at See also:Kolozsvar (Klausenburg), he in 1811 entered the See also:army, joining a See also:cavalry See also:regiment, with which he subsequently took See also:part in the See also:Italian See also:campaign . On the battlefield of Mincio (See also:February 8, 1814) he was promoted to the grade of See also:lieutenant .

He served in the campaign against See also:

Napoleon, and was See also:present at the entry of the Allied Troops into See also:Paris (See also:March 31, 1814) . In 1818 Jbsika resigned his See also:commission, returned to See also:Hungary, and married his first wife 2 Or " Magdolos " (See also:Herod. ii . 159), i.e. some " Migdal " (See also:tower) of See also:Judaea, not the Migdol of Exod. xiv . 2; Jer. xliv . 1 . 3 See Zeit. f . Alttest . Wissenschaft (1902), pp . 170 seq., 312 seq.; Journ Bib . Lit . (1903), p . 50 .

Phoenix-squares

See also:

Elizabeth Kallai . The See also:union proving an unhappy one, Josika parted from his wife, settled on his See also:estate at Szurdok in Transylvania, and devoted himself to agricultural and See also:literary pursuits . See also:Drawn into the See also:sphere of politics, he took part in the memorable Transylvanian See also:diet of 1834 . About this time Josika first began to attract See also:attention as a writer of fiction . In 1836 his Abaft laid the See also:foundation of his literary reputation . This novel gives a vivid picture of Transylvania in the time of See also:Sigismund Batori . Josika was soon afterwards elected member of the Hungarian See also:Academy of Sciences and of the See also:Kisfaludy Society; of the latter he became, in 1841, director, and in 1842 See also:vice-See also:president . In 1847 he appeared at the Transylvanian diet as second See also:deputy for the See also:county of Szolnok, and zealously supported the See also:movement for the union of Transylvania with Hungary proper . In the same year he was converted to Protestantism, was formally divorced from his wife, and married Baroness Julia Podmaniczky, herself a writer of considerable merit, with whom he lived happily until his death . So great was J6sika's literary activity that by the time of the revolution (1848) he had already produced about sixty volumes of romances and novels, besides numerous contributions to See also:periodicals . Both as See also:magnate of the upper See also:house of the Hungarian diet and by his writings Josika aided the revolutionary movement, with which he was soon personally identified, being chosen one of the members of the See also:committee of See also:national See also:defence . Consequently, after the See also:capitulation at Vilagos (Aug .

13, 1849) he found it necessary to flee the See also:

country, and settled first at See also:Dresden and then, in 1850, at See also:Brussels, where he resumed his literary pursuits anonymously . In 1864 he removed to Dresden, in which See also:city he died on the 27th of February 1865 . The romances of Josika, written somewhat after the See also:style of See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott, are chiefly of an See also:historical and social-See also:political character, his materials being drawn almost entirely from the See also:annals of his own country . Among his more important See also:works may be specially mentioned, besides Abafi—The Poet See also:Zrinyi (1843) ; The Last of the Bdtoris (1837); The Bohemians in Hungary (1839); See also:Esther (1853); See also:Francis Rdkdczy II . (1861) ; and A Vegvdriak, a See also:tale of the time of the Transylvanian See also:prince See also:Bethlen Gabor, 1864 . Many of J6sika's novels have been translated into See also:German . See K . Moenich and S . Vutkovich, Magyar Irok Nevtdra (1876) ; M . See also:Jokai, " Josika Miklos Emlekezete," A Kisfaludy-Tdrsaseig Evlapjai, Uj folyam, vol. iii . (1869) ; G . W .

Steinacker, Ungarische Lyriker (1874) . Cf. also J6sika's autobiography—Emlekirat, vol. iv . (1865) .

End of Article: JOSIAH (Heb. yo' shiyydhu, perhaps " Yah [weh] supports ")
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