These days were some of the darkest in Judah’s history. Manasseh’s fifty-five-year reign of terror was followed by the two-year reign of his son Amon, which was little better.
Then came Josiah at the tender age of eight. He began his reign when the people had never known a king who cared about God. Idol worship filled the land, the priesthood was largely corrupt, and the people were lost.
And then one day several years later when Josiah had come of age, his secretary came to him and said—almost casually, it seems—“The high priest found a book in the temple and gave it to me.”
He read it to Josiah, and the king fell apart, tearing his clothes.
Why?
Because it was the long-lost Book of the Law, probably the book of Deuteronomy, or at least a book that summarized the Law of Moses.
It’s unimaginable to us that God’s people had apparently lost the Bible. They had been led by such ungodly people and the Word of God had become so unimportant that they didn’t even know where it was.
Imagine a church that had no Bible.
When Josiah heard the reading of God’s Word, he instituted a series of reforms that completely changed Judah, at least in his day.
Tomorrow we’re going to study these reforms and think about what happens to us when we give God’s word the power that it deserves to change everything about us.
“I have found the Book of the Law.” It’s amazing what God does when we allow his word to shape who we are and what we do.