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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
We too are guilty. We too have fallen short of what we\u2019ve 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\u2014repentance. 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<\/em> the nations of the earth such leaders. That they would lead their people into another great harvest of souls for eternity.<\/p>\n “Please make it so, LORD, in our day, in our generation, and in our world.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 Kings 22 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Josiah\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother\u2019s name\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And he did\u00a0that which was\u00a0<\/em>right in the sight of the\u00a0LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. 3<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah,\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the\u00a0LORD, saying,\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the\u00a0LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people:\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the\u00a0LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>in the house of the\u00a0LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,\u00a06<\/sup>Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. 8<\/sup>\u00a0And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the\u00a0LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the\u00a0LORD.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 11<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king\u2019s, saying,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a013<\/sup>Go ye, enquire of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>the wrath of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And she said unto them, Thus saith the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, 16<\/sup>\u00a0Thus saith the\u00a0LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read:\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the\u00a0LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of Israel,\u00a0As touching\u00a0<\/em>the words which thou hast heard;\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the\u00a0LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard\u00a0thee\u00a0<\/em>, saith the\u00a0LORD.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6928"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6928"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16297,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6928\/revisions\/16297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}