he was yet young
2 Chronicles 34:3
34:3 he was yet young. Josiah was only eight years old when his wicked father Amon was slain. Amon had spent very little time with Josiah; in fact Amon himself was only sixteen years old when Josiah was born. After ruling only two years, Amon was slain at the age of twenty-four years. Fortunately, Josiah had evidently been more influenced by the later reforms of his grandfather Manasseh than by his own immature and rebellious father. Josiah’s training had perhaps been delegated to some faithful priest, but not even the latter would have had access to the Scriptures, which were accidentally recovered in the temple when Josiah was twenty-six years old, in the eighteenth year of his reign (II Chronicles 34:8,15). Nevertheless, he began his great reforms when he was only sixteen years old, illustrating God’s faithful ability to raise up His servants and to keep His Word even under the most unlikely of human circumstances.