Josiah and the Book

by Zeke Flores

During Josiah’s temple repairs, an astounding find was the impetus of a new force in a revival already underway. The Book of God’s law had been found ... by a priest no less! But how long had the Book of the Law been lost? Since Josiah’s great-grandfather Hezekiah led a similar revival, which was pleasing to God, plus having the guidance of the inspired prophet Isaiah, it seems the Book was used in Hezekiah’s time. His wicked son Manasseh, who assumed the throne, probably simply ignored it, probably shelving it while he ravaged the nation with paganism and idolatry.

Hilkiah, the priest who finds the Book, and Shaphan, the scribe who read it before giving it to King Josiah, knew they had found something profoundly significant. Once Josiah heard what was in the Book, he knew he needed to heed its authority and bring the nation to obey it. He read it, obeyed it, shared it, and stood for it. All this for a Book while they already had the temple of God and all its furnishings in their midst. Josiah knew that without the Book, the temple and furnishings were incomplete.

Now, here's my point. There are many houses of worship across the land, indeed across the world, accompanied by accouterments intended to honor God. But where’s the Book? Without the authority of the “Book of the Law,” specifically the New Covenant, all the trappings of “worship” are vain, meaningless, and unacceptable.
We need to take the Book off the shelf, blow the dust off it, and make sure that we do everything written in it just as they’re written. Or, like God’s ancient disobedient people, we’ll face His judgment.

"When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes ... 'for great is the wrath of Yahweh which is poured out on us because our fathers have not observed the word of Yahweh, to do according to all that is written in this book.' Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before Yahweh to walk after Yahweh, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant written in this book" (II Chronicles 34:19,31-32).