2 Chronicles 34:14–33✞: The Book of the Law Found
Passage
In the last passage we read about Josiah’s reforms; how he started bringing the people back into worship of God, did his best to eliminate idols, and began work on repairing the Temple. As they’re doing that work on the Temple in this passage, a priest named Hilkiah finds “the Book of the Law of the LORD that had been given through Moses” (v.14✞; more on this below, but it’s part or all of the existing Scriptures at the time). He gives the book to the king’s secretary, Shaphan, to bring to the king.
Shaphan does. After giving Josiah an update on the work at the Temple, he reads it to the king. Josiah’s reaction is immediate:
19 When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes. 20 He gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: 21 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the LORD; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.”
So the men go to speak with a prophet, Huldah, and she gives them God’s answer:
23 She said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, 24 ‘This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people—all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah. 25 Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all that their hands have made, my anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’ 26 Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: 27 Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD. 28 Now I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here.’”
The king’s response is pretty much the same as it would have been regardless – which I mean in a good way. He gathers up all of the people of Jerusalem, as well as the elders from across the land of Judah, goes up to the Temple, and reads the book to them. He makes them swear to follow God, and they seem to do so – for as long as he’s around:
33 Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the LORD, the God of their ancestors.
Thoughts
I’m positive I mentioned this when I blogged about it in Kings, but I’m struck by it every time I read the story of Josiah: how far must Judah have fallen that, after all of the reforms done by Josiah, he had still never even heard of the Scriptures! One would think he would be well versed in this book, but instead it appears to him as brand new information. No wonder he’s worried! If nothing else, think of the section near the end of Deuteronomy when God lists out the blessings He’ll bestow on the nation if they follow Him – followed by the curses with which He’ll curse them if they don’t! That alone would be enough to worry a king in a theocracy!
Imagine trying to plant a church, becoming its pastor, getting up to preach to the people every Sunday morning, and then one day you’re handed a Bible. “Wait,” you say, “who’s this ‘Jesus’ person they keep talking about?” That’s how surprised I am that Judah had strayed so far from God that their king had never even heard of the Scriptures.
Other than that, the main thought I have about this passage is about Josiah’s response to this crisis, but it’s also worth refreshing ourselves on what is meant by “the Book of the Law.”
Josiah’s Response
Above I said that Josiah’s response to God’s word is pretty much the same as if God had told him anything else, and that I meant that in a good way. What I’m saying is that Josiah didn’t think to himself, “Phew, it’s not going to happen to me! I can rest easy – it’s some future king’s problem!” No, he did everything he could to get the people to reverse course and follow God wholeheartedly.
If we look back at Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20, hearing that the Babylonians would eventually conquer Judah and seemingly not caring (since it wouldn’t happen in his lifetime), Josiah’s response looks very different: “God seems to have made His mind up to punish us for this, but we are going to follow Him anyway. If He relents, great! If He doesn’t, it’s still better to follow Him than not to follow him!”
The Book of the Law of the LORD
Modern readers sometimes get confused by mentions of “the Book of the Law,” which comes up in both the Old and New Testaments. There isn’t a book in the Old Testament with a name like that, but it does have the word “law” in it, so… maybe they’re referring to Leviticus? Or Numbers? Or… Deuteronomy has some recapitulations of laws in it, is that maybe the “Book of the Law?”
I don’t think this is a hard and fast definition—I could be wrong!—but in general, when the Bible talks about “the Book of the Law,” it’s referring to the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In our Bibles these are five distinct books, but I don’t think the Old Testament people of God treated them that way; it was just one “Book of the Law.”
“But wait,” you might be thinking, “Genesis doesn’t have any laws in it! Why is that called ‘the Book of the Law’ along with the others, that actually do have laws in them?” And the short answer is that we shouldn’t get so hung up on that word “law.” It’s not all about “laws.” In fact, in later times, I believe people sometimes use “the Law” or “the Book of the Law” to mean the entirety of the Scriptures, not just the five books of Moses. In my understanding the concept is more about getting to know God; part of that is the creation of the world and the flood and the life of Abraham in Genesis, part of that is the history of His people in Egypt, and, yes, part of it is the set of laws and regulations. Think of “the law” as being a short form for all of the [Old Testament] Scriptures, the way that Christians often use the term “the Word.”
All that being said, however, in this case, I’m guessing it really is the laws that are causing Josiah so much concern. Based on his reaction—and the reaction of the priests as well—I’m guessing their main concern is that they feel they haven’t been following God’s rules and regulations the way they were supposed to. They’ve also veered far off the path of following Him in general, it’s not just about rules and regulations, of course.
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