Digital Commons @ George Fox University Faculty Publications - George Fox Evangelical George Fox Evangelical Seminary Seminary 2004 The eD ath of Josiah in Scripture and Tradition: Wrestling with the Problem of Evil? Steve Delamarter George Fox University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/gfes Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, and the Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Delamarter, Steve, "The eD ath of Josiah in Scripture and Tradition: Wrestling with the Problem of Evil?" (2004). Faculty Publications - George Fox Evangelical Seminary. Paper 36. http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/gfes/36 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the George Fox Evangelical Seminary at Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications - George Fox Evangelical Seminary by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. THE DEATH OF JOSIAH IN SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION: WRESTLING WITH THE PROBLEM OF EVIL? by STEVE DELAMARTER Portland, USA Introduction Not long ago, Z. Talshir discussed in this journal three accounts of the Death of Josiah found respectively in 2Kgs, 2Chr and in lEsdr.1 From these three texts alone one can establish the fact that Josiah's death and the circumstances surrounding it generated intense interest on the part of storytellers long after the event itself took place. Tradents were drawn, apparendy, to what we would call the theological prob lem of evil that stands at the core of the story: how could such a noble king experience such an ignoble death? As Talshir shows, these texts give three different answers to the question: how could Josiah, the most righteous of Judah's kings, die an ignominious death at the hands of a pagan king? As it turns out, several other tradents and storytellers had some thing to say about the circumstances and causes of Josiah's death.