With the emergence of literacy and the flourishing of literature a textual revolution arose in the days of King Josiah. This was one of the most profound cultural revolutions in human history: the assertion of the orthodoxy of texts. As writing spread throughout Judean society, literacy broke out of the confines of the closed scribal schools, the royal court, and the lofty temples. Beginning in the burgeoning government bureaucracy, the use of writing spread throughout society. Basic literacy became commonplace, so much so that the illiterate could be socially stigmatized. The spread of literacy enabled a central feature of the religious revolution of Josiah: the religious authority of the written text. This was the great and enduring legacy of the Josianic Reforms in the development of Western civilization.

It is ironic that the spread of literacy does not necessarily translate into a higher level of literature. Quite the contrary, its democratization increasingly takes writing out of the hands of professionals and places it into the hands of the general public. Writing in the days of Hezekiah had largely been done by court or temple scribes. Writing in the days of Josiah spread throughout the government bureaucracy and the economy. This spread of literacy meant that writing was more broad, but also more shallow. The quantity of writing tended to diminish the quality of writing. The important innovation that emerged with the Josianic Reforms was not the spread of literacy, but the concept of textual authority.