A Disturbing Discovery...

This week we are looking at the life of a king of the Jewish people named Josiah. After removing the altars where the worship of false gods occurred, King Josiah turned his attention to restoring the Temple in Jerusalem, where the worship of the One True God was to occur.

In 622 B.C., King Josiah turned his attention to repairing and restoring the Temple in Jerusalem, which had fallen into disrepair after fifty seven years of neglect by King Manasseh and King Amon. The king initiated a Temple Restoration Fund drive that involved the investment of the treasure of the Jewish people over and above their regular giving.

And as the Jewish people responded to King Josiah’s leadership in restoring the Temple by providing the resources to repair the Temple, those resources were then allocated to those who were responsible for making the repairs to the Temple. And as the Temple restoration project moved forward, an amazing discovery was made. A discovery that Ezra records for us in 2 Chronicles 34:14:

 When they were bringing out the money which had been brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the LORD given by Moses. Hilkiah responded and said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. Then Shaphan brought the book to the king and reported further word to the king, saying, "Everything that was entrusted to your servants they are doing. "They have also emptied out the money which was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hands of the supervisors and the workmen." Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, "Hilkiah the priest gave me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

One day, as the Levitical Priests were cleaning out a portion of the Temple as part of the Temple restoration project, Hilkiah, who was the High Priest, or Senior Pastor, at the Temple, found a book. However, this book was not just any book. Instead this book was the book of the Law, which consisted of the first five letters that are recorded for us in our Bibles today, which the Jewish people referred to as the Law or the Torah.

These five books contained the list of commandments that revealed to the Jewish people God’s nature, God’s character, and the type of nature and character that humanity would need to possess and display in order to live in a right relationship with God. Now a natural question that arises here is “so Dave, are you saying that the Jewish people lost their Bibles? I mean how could you have church without reading from the Bible? How could you live in a growing and maturing relationship with God without hearing from God through His word?”

 Now I am not saying the Jewish people lost their Bibles; Ezra is saying that the Jewish people lost their Bibles. You see, at some point during the selfish and rebellious reign of King Manasseh, as King Manasseh turned the Temple into a place to worship false gods instead of the One True God, as King Manasseh began to destroy any copies of the Law, a priest had hidden the Law so that it would not be destroyed by King Manasseh.

And during the fifty seven years of King Manasseh and King Amon’s reign, the Law was not read and the worship of the Lord in the Temple did not occur. And once the priest who hid the Law died, the Law was lost. The Law was lost until King Josiah led the Jewish people to repair and restore the Temple.

While King Josiah sought the Lord and was faithful to the Lord, in spite of his upbringing; while King Josiah pursued a personal relationship with the Lord, he did not have the word of the Lord to inform and help guide his relationship with the Lord. Hilkiah, upon finding the Law, gave the Law to Shaphan, who was a scribe who was supposed to be an expert in the Law, to bring the book of the Law to King Josiah.

But how can you be an expert in the Law if you have never read the Law? Unless you had a copy of the Law, you would have never read the Law, because King Manasseh had destroyed every copy of the Law that he could find.

And did you notice how Shaphan approached King Josiah? Shaphan did not seem to view the book of the Law as being especially significant, did he? Instead Shaphan basically says “Hey King Josiah, Hilkiah gave me a book? What does the book say? Well, I don’t know, let me read it to you.” We see how King Josiah responded upon hearing the words of the Law for the very first time in verse 19:

 When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, "Go, inquire of the LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book which has been found; for great is the wrath of the LORD which is poured out on us because our fathers have not observed the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book."

Now a natural question that arises here is “Why would King Josiah tear his clothes after hearing what the Law said?” To tear one’s clothes was a sign of profound grief and anguish that accompanied mourning. You see, King Josiah was brought to great grief as a result of what the word of the Lord revealed about the Lord and how He felt about how the Jewish people had been living. The word of the Lord revealed that the Jewish people had been living in selfishness and rebellion against the Lord for almost seventy years.

And as a result of almost seventy years of selfishness and rebellion against the Jewish people, Josiah proclaimed that “great is the wrath of the LORD which is poured out on us because our fathers have not observed the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book." In other words, the Lord is going to exercise His right and just response to our selfishness and rebellion because we have not followed the Lord or the word of the Lord.

Did you notice that King Josiah used the words us and we here? Even though King Josiah sought the Lord and was faithful to the Lord, King Josiah recognized that he was part of a community that had been rejecting the Lord. King Josiah recognized that as leader of this community he was a part of the community and that he would experience the consequences of the selfishness and rebellion in community with them.

And because of that reality, King Josiah commanded the religious leaders of the Jewish people to inquire of the Lord for the king and the Jewish people when it came to what the Lord was going to do to the Jewish people as a result of their selfishness and rebellion. We see what happens next in verse 22:

 So Hilkiah and those whom the king had told went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, the keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her regarding this. She said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Tell the man who sent you to Me, thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the curses written in the book which they have read in the presence of the king of Judah. "Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place and it shall not be quenched."'  "But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus you will say to him, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel regarding the words which you have heard, "Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you," declares the LORD. "Behold, I will gather you to your fathers and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, so your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place and on its inhabitants."'" And they brought back word to the king.

The religious leaders of the Jewish people sought out a prophetess named Huldah to inquire how the Lord was going to respond to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people. The prophetess responded to their inquiry with a twofold response. On the one hand, the Lord was going to respond to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people over the fifty seven year reign of King Manasseh and King Amon by exercising His right and just response to that selfishness and rebellion.

The Lord was going to fulfill the promises that He had made to the Jewish people that were recorded in the Law, which the Jewish people ignored and did not even read. The Lord was going to fulfill His promise from the Law to exercise His right and just response to their rejection of Him in order to worship false gods. The Lord was going to fulfill His promise from the Law to remove the Jewish people from the Promised Land and abandon and destroy the Temple as a result of the Jewish people abandoning the Lord so as to follow false gods.

On the other hand, the Lord was going to extend grace to King Josiah. Because King Josiah had a heart that sought and pursued the Lord, in spite of his upbringing and in spite of his lack of awareness of the word of the Lord. Because King Josiah humbled himself in recognition of the words of the Lord that were recorded in the Law; because King Josiah was brought to great grief as a result of what the word of the Lord revealed about how the Lord felt about how the Jewish people had been treating Him, King Josiah would not see the destruction of the Temple and the overthrow of the Jewish nation. King Josiah would die with the peace that would come from not seeing the Jewish people conquered as a result of the Lord’s right response to their selfishness and rebellion.

Upon hearing the prophetess’s words, the religious leaders returned to King Josiah and reported all that they had heard. Now this morning, I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves in this event from history as King Josiah. I want us to put ourselves in his shoes. You have just received word that the Lord was going to respond to the selfishness and rebellion of the people you lead by fulfilling His promise to exercise His right and just response to their selfishness and rebellion.

That’s the bad news. The bad news is that your eighteen years of leading the Jewish people to return to the Lord, has not removed the guilt that the fifty seven years of selfishness and rebellion had brought to the Jewish nation.

However, the good news is that the Lord would extend grace to you so that you would not see the Lord exercise His right and just response during your lifetime. The good news is that you will have peace in your life knowing that the nation you lead will not be overthrown during your lifetime.

You are King Josiah. What would you be thinking? What would you be feeling? How would you respond? Friday we will look at King Josiah’s response...