The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Book of the law” it comes from the Hebrew Word “sepher torah” which means “book of the law.”
During temple repairs, workers discover a scroll that no one seems to have read in generations. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is 2 Kings 22.
Josiah becomes king at just eight years old and does what is right exactly as David his ancestor did. In his eighteenth year, he sends his scribe Shaphan to oversee repairs to the Lord’s house, using collected temple offerings for the workmen and materials, similar to the arrangement Joash had established generations earlier. During this repair work, Hilkiah the high priest discovers “the book of the law,” “sepher torah” in Hebrew, and gives it to Shaphan, who reads it and reports it to the king.
When Shaphan reads the book aloud to Josiah, the king tears his clothes in genuine distress, recognizing how far Judah has drifted from these long-neglected commandments, and instructs his officials to inquire of the Lord concerning what they have found, since God’s wrath must certainly be kindled against a nation so completely ignorant of His actual instructions. They consult Huldah, a prophetess, who confirms that disaster is indeed coming upon Jerusalem exactly as the book describes, because the people have forsaken the Lord and worshiped other gods.
However, because Josiah’s heart was tender, and he humbled himself before the Lord upon hearing these words, tearing his clothes and weeping, Huldah promises that this coming judgment will not happen during Josiah’s own lifetime, and that he will be gathered to his grave in peace before he has to witness the disaster his ancestors’ unfaithfulness had already guaranteed for Judah’s future.
The fact that God’s own law had been so thoroughly lost and forgotten that its rediscovery came as a genuine shock reveals just how far Judah had drifted during Manasseh’s long, corrupt reign. Josiah’s immediate, tender-hearted response to hearing it, rather than defensive dismissal, is exactly what distinguished him from so many kings before him.
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