_The Great Discovery._
The great deliverance from the Scythian invasion strengthened Josiah
and the Prophetic Party in their work of reform. They felt that their
God had spared them because much of the idolatrous worship had already
been stopped in Jerusalem and many of the pagan shrines destroyed.
The king also determined to repair and rebuild certain parts of the
Temple. The great building that Solomon erected now looked like a
hodge-podge of architecture. No repairs whatever had been made on it
since the days of King Joash, about two hundred years before, while
many additions in the interior and in the courts had been made by Ahaz
and Manasseh.
Josiah determined to clear out everything foreign connected with the
Temple; inside and out he was going to restore it as it was in the
days of Solomon, and to beautify it. Walls were cracked and foundations
had settled at different points. The alterations and repairs planned,
accordingly, were very extensive and were to be done immediately.
But the Temple treasury and the coffers of the royal house were empty.
The enormous tributes that the predecessors of Josiah were forced to
pay to Assyria had greatly reduced the financial resources of both
king and Temple.
Josiah, therefore, introduced a new method of collecting funds for the
proposed work. He placed great collection boxes at the Temple gates.
All who visited Jerusalem and the Temple were expected to make some
contribution. Money came in fast, especially when, under the supervision
of Hilkiah, the masons and the artisans and the workmen of all kinds
had actually started operation.
In addition, Josiah caused collections to be made for this purpose all
through his kingdom, including the old kingdom of Israel, where a
remnant of the people still remained. With theis money, the hewn
stone and the timber necessary for the repairs were bought and the
workmen paid.
It is recorded that everyone did his work faithfully and efficiently
and that the building, for that reason, was being restored in
exceptionally quick time.
On a certain day, in the year 621, Josiah sent Shaphan, his minister
of foreign affairs, to the Temple to empty the collection boxes and
to report back to him on the progress of the repairs.
When Shaphan came to the Temple, Hilkiah approached him carrying a
parchment statement, "I have found the Book of the Law in the House of
God;" and Hilkiah handed the book to Shaphan.
Being questioned, Hilkiah explained that the book was discovered in
one of the corner-stones of the Temple. It had probably been placed
there by King Solomon himself, he explained, at the time when the
Temple was built. But after Solomon's death, during the constant
war between Israel and Judah and the inroads that idolatry had made
in both countries, the real, genuine "Book of the Law" that was to
have been the basis for government, the constitution of both Israel
and Judah, had evidently been lost sight of and forgotten. Now, by
the merest accident, it was found again.
When Shaphan glanced through it he immediately saw what a wonderful
discovery had been made. So he took the book to the king. He reported
to Josiah first, that the money was collected, material paid for and
workmen satisfied; then, that the King's orders regarding the repairs
of the Temple had been faithfully carried out; finally, that Hilkiah
had discovered a book and that he had delivered it to him. The king,
having heard the whole story of the discovery, ordered Shaphan to read
the book to him, aloud.
What Shaphan read amazed Josiah and the few advisers whom he had
called in to listen to the reading. Everything in it seemed to be the
exact opposite of conditions as they existed in Judah. The laws for
sacrifices and ceremonies in the Temple; the statutes regarding the
priesthood in the Temple; the observances of the holidays; the
commandments regarding duties of officers of the law and the
administration of justice; the humane laws between man and man, all
were different from, actually opposed to, the practice of priest,
judge and people in Josiah's entire kingdom.
During the reading of the book Josiah recognized how little real
headway his reforms thus far had made. When he heard Shaphan read:
"The judges shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
Thou shalt not pervert justice; thou shalt not respect
persons; neither shalt thou take a bribe, for a bribe
blindeth the eyes of the wise and perverteth the words of
the righteous. Justice and only justice shalt thou follow,
that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord
thy God giveth thee",
he understood how far from this ideal his people had strayed.
When he heard the great declaration of God's unity,
"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; and
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy might",
he understood how little he had accomplished throughout his reign, in
attempted suppression of the worship of many gods.
When he heard the scribe read aloud that it is God's will to be
worshiped only in that "place which the Lord your God shall choose out
of all your tribes to put His name there," he determined, more than
ever before, to pull down every shrine and pagan sanctuary and to
center the worship of the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem alone.
At the end of the book, Shaphan read a series of wonderful blessings
that were promised king and people, if they would live in accordance
with the commandments contained in the Book of the Law--and Josiah saw
visions of peace and prosperity for his kingdom. But the reading of
the last lines cast a heavy gloom upon the little party, for the book
concluded with the enumeration of a series of evils upon evils that
would surely befall king and people should they not live in accordance
with these commandments:
"All these curses shall come upon thee and follow thee and
overtake thee until thou art destroyed, because thou hast
not hearkened unto the Lord thy God, to keep His commandments
and His statutes which He commanded thee."
Upon hearing this very dramatic conclusion, Josiah came down from his
throne and bowed himself to the ground. He rent his clothes and wept
aloud, as if he were mourning for one who had died and whom he had
loved best of all in the world.
Then, restraining himself and collecting all his strength, he turned
to Shaphan and Hilkiah and the others, who had been listening to the
reading, and said:
"Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are
left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book
that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is
poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the
word of the Lord, to do according unto all that is written
in this book."
Leaving the King's presence, Hilkiah and his companions held a short
council to determine what to do next. The Book of the Law was so
extraordinary that they needed the wisdom of some sage to explain to
them how to proceed.
Those of the Prophetic Party understood well enough what this book
was. They considered that it was a copy of the law which Moses was
ordered to "put by the side of the Ark" and which Solomon probably
placed in the corner-stone of the Temple when he built it. They who
had been trained by the descendants of the little party of faithful
Judeans whom Isaiah had gathered about him, knew that this law had
been continually violated since the days of Hezekiah and practically
forgotten. Therefore they wanted someone who was an authority, one who
would be trusted by all the people, to interpret this book and to
declare it to be the genuine Law of Moses.
First, someone suggested that Jeremiah be called in to interpret the
book, but Hilkiah objected on the ground that Jeremiah was still a
young man and that his opinion probably would not be heeded by all the
people. Shaphan then suggested that the book be taken to Huldah, the
Prophetess, a wise and aged mother in Israel, then living in
Jerusalem.
This suggestion was agreeable to all. With Hilkiah as leader of the
delegation, they came to Huldah, bringing the request from the King.
Her face lighted up benignly when she had read the book, but when she
thought of the reply she had to send back, her brows knitted and
wrinkles of care and pain showed in her face. Returning the scroll to
Shaphan, Huldah said:
"Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Tell ye the man
that sent you unto me: Thus saith the Lord, 'Behold, I will
bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof,
even all the curses that are written in the book which they
have read before the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken
me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might
provoke me to anger with all the works of their bands;
therefore is my wrath poured out upon this place and it shall
not be quenched.'
"But unto the King of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the
Lord, thus shall ye say to him: 'Thus saith the Lord, the
God of Israel: As touching the words which thou hast heard,
because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself
before God, when thou heardest his words against this place
and against the inhabitants thereof, and hast humbled thyself
before me and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me; I also
have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee
to thy fathers and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in
peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will
bring upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof.'"
The good prophetess knew that what happens to individuals must happen
to whole nations. Here was a people that had been adding evil to evil
and transgression to transgression for many generations. Just as a
person who keeps on sinning and sinning, without reforming in his
heart and in his deeds, arrives at a time when, no matter how anxious
he is to turn from his evil ways, it is too late and he must finally
pay the penalty for his misspent life, so this nation of Judah, into
the very heart of which the cancer of wrongdoing had long been eating,
could not, at this late date, escape its final destruction.
But it is different, as the Prophetess Huldah expressed it, with
individuals who turn from their evil paths while they are young, or who,
like Josiah, attempt to do the right thing in the very midst of evil.
Therefore, she could send back the message to the king, that he,
because of the tenderness of his heart, because of his humility before
God, because of his unquestioned effort to act in accordance with
God's commandments, would return unto the God who sent him here before
the evil days were to come upon the land, before the doom that awaited
his people would encompass them.
The king had been anxiously awaiting the return of his messengers,
when they arrived at the palace from the house of the Prophetess. They
were quickly ushered into the throne room.
It was with great hesitation that Hilkiah finally made up his mind to
report the words of the prophetess, exactly as she had spoken them.
When the priest had finished, a deep, deathlike silence hung over the
room, as if some catastrophe were impending.
Josiah turned away from the little group, rested his arm heavily upon
the throne and leaned his head upon it. Hilkiah, Shaphan and the
others saw and felt the emotion that surged through the young king and
caused his whole frame to tremble. A soft, gentle sound escaped him,
as if he were weeping.
Suddenly, however, Josiah's attitude changed. He ran the back of his
hand over his eyes, straightened up and faced his friends. He was calm,
composed, determined. He had concluded that he, himself, was the least
to be considered in this matter. He needed advice from more older and
more experienced men. Consequently, before the counselors present left
him, Josiah ordered Shaphan to call an assembly of the elders of the
entire people to meet in Jerusalem before the coming Passover.