2 Kings 22:10: “Then Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, ‘Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.’ And Shaphan read it before the king. Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes.”

August 16th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

While repairing the temple, the Book of the Law was found and brought to King Josiah. Josiah was about 16 years old and the grandson of Manasseh, one of the most idolatrous kings Judah ever had. The scribe who brought the book didn’t say what kind of book it was, perhaps this was the first time he had ever seen it. It is clear this was the first time the high priest Hilkiah had seen Scripture, so obviously King Josiah had never heard of it either.

One wonders how much the scribe read before he decided it was important enough to bring to the king. He must have been unsure how the young king would react, but he showed courage in reading it out loud to Josiah. We are not told how much or what part he read to the king, but we do see the young king’s strong reaction. The power of its words absolutely floored him. He was devastated by how far short they had fallen from following them.

We too are guilty. We too have fallen short of what we’ve been called to and are therefore ripe for discipline. The exact things forbidden in the law are the very things we have also been doing. What a perfect reaction for a national leader, responsible for the spiritual life of a nation, to have—repentance. Oh, that God would give us such a leader in our day, who would fall on his face and repent of the sins of our nation. Oh, that God would give all the nations of the earth such leaders. That they would lead their people into another great harvest of souls for eternity.

“Please make it so, LORD, in our day, in our generation, and in our world.”