While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD given through Moses. Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. Shaphan brought the book to the king, and further reported to the king, “All that was committed to your servants they are doing. They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the LORD and have given it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen.” Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it before the king.
Josiah was a good king and set his heart to rebuild the Temple. In that building the workers came across a copy of what was probably the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. We don’t know if this copy they found was the entire Torah or, perhaps just the book of Deuteronomy. Since we later learn the Josiah read about the blessings and the cursing we can suppose that they had a least a portion of Deuteronomy (since those are found in the book of Deuteronomy). This reading of the Law will further move Josiah to do good things for God and for the people of God. His faithfulness in something little (restoring the Temple) would lead to his faithfulness in something greater (restoring the people). God does this for us. As we step out and do what is the right thing before God, God gives us more and more revelation about Him and for Him. The kings that went before Josiah had not found the copy of the Law. But, because Josiah was dutiful and wanted to repair the Temple, God brought Him further knowledge about God and His ways. A second point here is that God preserves His Word. We have to wonder how long this copy of the Law was hidden. With all the kings that disobeyed God and destroyed the Temple, this copy of the Law remained hidden until Josiah’s day. God preserves His Word until the right time. He continues to do that throughout all generations.
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