The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 116, Josiah King Of Judah, Part Three

In Wednesday's study we learned that Josiah tore town idolatrous images and altars throughout Jerusalem and Judah and even in the northern kingdom of Israel. The text of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles appears to indicate that he carried out some reforms in his twelfth year as king, when he was twenty years old. But after the Book of the Law is found, which happens in his eighteenth year as king, he carries out further reforms according to the authors of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. Before we study those portions of Scripture, we take a look at the finding of the precious book. 

King Josiah is twenty-six years old when we begin today's study. "In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the Lord. He said: 'Go up to Hilkiah the priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the Lord---the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple. But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are honest in their dealings.'" (2 Kings 22:3-7) 

The author of 2 Chronicles says these repairs were necessary because the kings of Judah had allowed buildings to fall into ruin. (2 Chronicles 34:11) King Amon, Josiah's father, was completely sold out to idolatry and it's not surprising that he was unconcerned about any repairs that needed to be made at the temple complex. Amon's father, King Manasseh, was an idolater for most of his fifty-five year reign and likely gave little thought to the condition of the Lord's house, at least until perhaps the final years of his reign. Even then the Bible only tells us that he removed the Asherah pole he had set up in the temple and that he reinstated the use of the Lord's altar, not that he made repairs to the building itself or to other areas of the complex. 

Next we learn that in the process of making the repairs ordered by Josiah the Book of the Law comes to light. Many scholars propose that this was the original copy written down by Moses and that it had been hidden by the priests during the reign of one of the idolatrous kings. The Lord had commanded every king to write down his own copy of the law and to read from it every day of his life (Deuteronomy 17:18-20), but King Amon and King Manasseh certainly would not have obeyed this command. King Josiah and many of the people and priests and prophets would have been familiar with some of the things included in the law, of course, but these next verses indicate that no one has held or read the Book of the Law for some time. It seems evident that Josiah has never laid eyes on it.

"Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.' He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: 'Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.' Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, 'Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.' And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes." (2 Kings 22:8-11, 2 Chronicles 34:14-19) 

Why does the king tear his robes? Because, as we will read in tomorrow's passage, he realizes just how far some of the previous kings strayed from the Lord's commandments. He realizes how much the behavior of some of the previous kings influenced the people to sin against the Lord. Josiah loves the Lord and I believe he communes with Him when making decisions, but after hearing the law read he knows that he and every person on earth has fallen short of perfectly keeping the commandments of God. The hearing of the law convicts him of his own failures (many of which were likely made in ignorance of the law, but some of which were made willingly as we all do from time to time) and gives him a clear picture of just how wicked some of his forefathers have been. We will find out tomorrow that the reading of the law causes him a great deal of concern that the Lord's judgment is going to fall upon the nation of Judah because no one has been reading and closely following what the book says. 

As we close today's study it's interesting to point out that the high priest Hilkiah may be the father of the prophet Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 1:1 we will find the prophet stating that he is the son of Hilkiah, a priest from Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Jeremiah does not say that he is the son of the high priest but many scholars believe that this is the case. (It's important to note that although Hilkiah was from a city in Benjamin he could not have been a Benjamite since priests had to be of the line of Levi.) If Jeremiah is the son of the Hilkiah from today's text, his father's discovery of the Book of the Law may have been the pivotal event that shaped Jeremiah's life. This may be why Jeremiah said of the word of God: "His word is in my heart like a fire." (Jeremiah 20:9b) Jeremiah loved the Lord and Jeremiah loved the Book of the Law---so much so that he said the word of God set his heart on fire. Perhaps the reason Jeremiah was so on fire for the Lord is because his father is the man who found and greatly reverenced the Book of the Law. 

I am thankful for the people in our lives who reverenced the word of God and who influenced us to plut our faith in Him. My mother was a woman who held the word of God in the highest esteem. Because of this, she was careful to teach me about the Lord. Because she taught me about the Lord, I too reverence the word of God. I like to think that Jeremiah's heart was set on fire by God's word because his father is the person who found the Book of the Law and who taught him from it.