And Shaphan the scribe informed the king saying, Hilkijah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
The temple repairs were underway when a long-lost scroll surfaced, and this verse is the moment it reached the throne. Why did the book come to light just then, what was it, and what happens when Scripture is read aloud in a place of power?
Shaphan reported on the building fund first. Only after all the business detail did he mention what Hilkiah had handed him:
He says nothing about the new-found treasure yet. Perhaps it was not a treasure in his eyes. Like many people today, he was more taken up with "workmen" and "money" than with God's book. God has "magnified" that book, not just above all Christian work or missionary effort (though these have their place), but "above all His name." Shaphan did not despise the book. But like many a scribe today, he had not yet realized how important that precious book is. Then — after "money," and "overseers," and "workmen," have all been mentioned — comes the report: "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book" — only a book!
Whatever his priorities, Shaphan did not leave the scroll on a shelf:
Hilkiah reported his great discovery 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, and he read it" (2 Kings 22:8). Shaphan did wisely, for a Bible no one reads is useless to anybody.
One writer traces the find back to the king's care for the temple, and sees the same pattern much later in history:
If Josiah had not cared about restoring the temple, the book of the law, which was kept there (2 Chr. 34:15), would not have come to light again. This is the special character of Josiah's revival... In this revival the Holy Scriptures suddenly take their place of importance again, after being neglected and forgotten during the reigns before him. This was the great blessing attached to the revival called the Reformation. God's providence brought the Bible out of hiding and put it within reach of everyone, and at once it shone out with the brightest splendour.
Some have claimed the scroll was a new document, written for the occasion. One writer answers that from the way Josiah himself speaks of it:
Josiah heard the words of the book of the law, and his heart was tender; but he had no idea of a new book or a new law. It was the book of the law that was found. In the long reign of Manasseh it had been utterly neglected; but he speaks of it as no new thing.
Whether the physical scroll was Moses' own manuscript, commentators leave open — one calls it "an interesting question, but difficult to answer."
The "secretary" of the verse was Josiah's chief officer of state. This was the king's first encounter with the words themselves:
It was a great moment in the spiritual history of Josiah when his Secretary of State brought in the book of the law and read it before him... Josiah had never seen the sacred scroll before, and he had never heard it read. How different from us! We have the complete Word of God, and we may read it as often as we wish!
That advantage can turn into the same neglect:
Bibles are plentiful and cheap. But in some homes they may sit only on the top shelf, as dusty as the precious book Hilkiah found in the temple!
The words did more than inform the king. They cut into him:
"The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Heb. 4:12.) That is what it proved to be for Josiah... We commend him to present-day critics, who, alas! rend the Bible instead of their clothes... If we treat it as an ordinary book, an ordinary book it will remain to us.
Shaphan read the book aloud to the king. His own family did not follow him in it:
The prophet gives special mention to Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan. Shaphan was the scribe who received the book of the law from Hilkiah the high priest and read it before King Josiah (2 Kings 22:8-11; Jer. 39:14). The son of this God-fearing scribe was the leader of the idol worshippers.
- Hidden — the scroll lay neglected through the reigns before Josiah. It came to light because a king cared about God's house.
- Handed over — Shaphan mentioned it last, after money and workmen, as though it were "only a book."
- Read — he still read it aloud, and a Bible unread helps no one.
- Heard — the words cut into a king who had never heard them. Our own Bibles are cheap and plentiful, and can still sit unopened.
- Owned — Josiah received it as the old law long ignored, not a new one. Shaphan's son shows that handling Scripture is no substitute for obeying it.
And it came to pass when the king heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his garments.
Josiah had set his heart on restoring the neglected temple, and while the work went on the high priest found the book of the law inside it. Hearing it read aloud broke the king, and his torn clothes raise a question for every reader of Scripture: do we judge the Word, or does it judge us?
The nation had drifted so far that its own law had gone missing. One commentator points to God's faithfulness here, and to what the king had that mattered more than knowledge:
Even here the law had been lost all this time, and it was a great discovery to find it. God was faithful, and the man who had a heart to observe the word of Jehovah found the law through His servant Hilkiah, the high priest. "When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes." He had a tender conscience. There is nothing more important in its place; for what is the good of knowledge if there is not a conscience? ... The moment you divorce the truth from conscience, the state of the soul is even worse. It is far better to use the little we know simply and rightly than to grow in knowledge without matching faithfulness.
Some read this find as a new book written in Josiah's own day. One commentator answers from the way Josiah himself spoke of it:
Josiah heard the words of the book of the law, and his heart was tender; but he had no idea of a new book or a new law. It was the book of the law that was found. In the long reign of Manasseh it had been utterly neglected; but he speaks of it as no new thing.
Yet familiar words can land with the force of a first hearing when a person is already obeying:
When zeal for God's house and obedience to the Scriptures go together, the Scriptures become, as it were, a completely new revelation. Things already known to be of God certainly do not lose their importance. But a light bursts out that astonishes and impresses people, as if it had been completely unknown until then. And it touches consciences most deeply.
Josiah never asked whether the scroll was authentic. He simply took the blow:
Josiah had no question at all in his mind about whether the words Shaphan had read in his hearing were genuine. We do not read of his asking, "How am I to know that this is the Word of God?" No. He trembled at it. He bowed before it. It struck him down. He tore his garments. He did not presume to sit in judgement on the Word of God, but, as was right, he allowed the Word to judge him.
The order of his actions matters. He did not begin by attacking the sins around him:
It is one thing to judge our surroundings by the Word, and quite another to judge ourselves. Now Josiah began with himself. He tore his own clothes before he ever called others to listen to the weighty words of the law. That was true self-judgment under their searching power.
Softness towards God is not where anyone starts. One writer records what God said about Josiah's torn clothes, and where such a heart comes from:
God valued Josiah's attitude. In answer to his anxious question He said: "because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words ... and you have humbled yourself before Me and have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD" (2 Chronicles 34:26-27). The heart of man is naturally hard towards God. ... In contrast with this, Josiah's heart was impressionable — a gracious work of the Holy Spirit of God, without doubt. Jeremiah 23:29 compares the divine Word to a hammer: "Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" ... His heart was already tender.
Torn clothes are not the only way to react to bad news from God. Josiah's own son later showed the other option:
Josiah had good reason to tear his clothes when he read what lay in store for Israel if they forsook their God and turned to idols. Yet how great the contrast between Josiah's attitude and that of his son Jehoiakim. When Jehoiakim heard the words written on Jeremiah's scroll, he cut it with his penknife and threw it into the fire.
- Neglected. Years of drift lost the law. Finding it again was a great discovery — yet Josiah treated it as the old book, not a new one.
- Read. When a person is already obeying, familiar words come with new light and reach the conscience.
- Torn. He did not test the Word's credentials; he trembled, bowed, and let it judge him.
- Ordered. Self-judgment came before reform of anyone else — his own clothes first, then the call to others.
- Given. A tender heart is not natural. It is the Spirit's gracious work. The hard heart needs the hammer — and God says He hears the tender heart.
And the king commanded Hilkijah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying,
Someone has found the book of the law, and Josiah has just heard it read aloud. He tore his clothes at what he heard. Now he acts: he names five men and sends them out on his behalf. Two questions follow. Why would a king need a delegation to learn God's mind? And what does it say about him that his first move was to ask for more of the Word that had just cut him?
Before Josiah gave any order, the book had already done its work inside him. One commentator draws the line between two very different uses of Scripture:
It is a very serious thing for anyone — man, woman or child — to stand in the searching light of God's Word. That Word judges everything. It makes no terms with the flesh or the world. It cuts up by the root everything within us and around us that is not according to God... It is one thing to judge our surroundings by the Word, and it is quite another thing to judge ourselves. Now Josiah began with himself. Before he ever called on others to listen to the weighty words of the law, he tore his own clothes, in true self-judgment beneath their searching power.
The order in this verse comes from a man who did not soften what he had heard:
How profoundly serious was the effect on the godly king Josiah when he heard the Word of God! In a spirit of deep self-judgment he tore his clothes. Then he commanded five men, including Hilkiah and Shaphan, to go and inquire of the Lord for him and for the small number left in Israel and Judah. For he recognised that Israel was under the great wrath of God because their fathers had not kept the Word of the Lord. He did not try to explain it away. He faced the truth of Scripture head on. He wanted to know just how God was now going to deal with his nation.
The five men carry the question; they do not answer it. One commentator asks who can:
And now who will interpret this Word for us? This Word says we have brought His displeasure on ourselves. So how are we to "inquire of Jehovah" about what we should do? The prophet alone, the representative of the Spirit of Christ, can interpret it for us. Josiah does not turn to Shaphan the secretary for this, or even to Hilkiah the high priest. He seeks to be brought into direct relationship with the Word.
Hilkiah the high priest heads the list of messengers. One commentator stops at that:
But the course Josiah adopted arrests our attention. He sent a delegation of five leading men in his realm to consult Huldah the prophetess as to what Jehovah wanted done. The leader of the delegation was Hilkiah the High Priest! The religious head of the nation sent by the king to a woman for counsel! Why was this?... At a much later date it was said, "The priest's lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the law at his mouth, for he is the messenger of Jehovah of Hosts" (Mal. 2:7). Here the high privileges and the spiritual distinction of the priesthood stand out clearly. Their special nearness to God should fit them to be His mouthpiece to the people.
Two of the five appear again later. Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, stood by God's prophet when that was dangerous:
Son of Shaphan the scribe, and one of those sent by Josiah to Huldah the prophetess to inquire of the Lord about the book of the law that had been found. He also served under Jehoiakim and shielded Jeremiah from death when he prophesied against the nation.
Shaphan handled the book himself. That was no guarantee inside his own house:
Shaphan did wisely, for a Bible unread is useless to anybody. This man's son became a leader in idolatry (Ezek. 8:11). Over him the Word of God evidently had no power.
- Read — a Bible nobody opens helps nobody. Everything here starts with Shaphan reading the book to the king.
- Received — Josiah did not argue with the hard words. He took the truth as it stood and asked God what came next.
- Repented first — he tore his own clothes before he gave any order. He judged himself before he judged the nation.
- Referred upward — he passed over his own secretary and high priest. He wanted God's Word direct, not official comfort.
- Results vary — the same scroll passed through Shaphan's hands and Ahikam's. One family gave Jeremiah a protector; it also gave the nation a leader in idolatry. The Word's power is not inherited.
Go, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book which is found; for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written [there] for us.
The repair of the temple brought the long-neglected book of the law back to light. When Josiah heard its words he tore his clothes and sent five men to inquire of the LORD. His order raises three questions. What was this book? Why did the king count the sins of long-dead generations as his own? And what good is repentance after God has already announced judgment?
Josiah speaks of "this book" as something his fathers should have obeyed long ago. One writer answers the idea that this was a newly written law:
Josiah heard the words of the book of the law, and his heart was tender; but he had no idea of a new book or a new law. What they found was the book of the law. During Manasseh's long reign it lay completely neglected, but he speaks of it as nothing new. "Great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book."
The book had sat in the temple, ignored. Another writer traces its discovery back to Josiah's care for God's house, and describes how the recovered Word struck that generation:
If Josiah had not had the restoration of the temple at heart, the book of the law, which was kept there, would not have come to light again. This is the special character of Josiah's revival... under Josiah we find what amounts to a totally new revelation of the written Word.
The king could have softened what he heard. The disobedience named in the book was his fathers', not his own. He did nothing of the kind:
In deep self-judgment he tore his clothes. Then he commanded five men, including Hilkiah and Shaphan, to go and inquire of the Lord for him and for the small number left in Israel and Judah. For he recognized that Israel was under the great wrath of God because their fathers had not kept the Word of the Lord. He did not try to explain it away. He faced the truth that Scripture declared, and he wanted to know how God would now deal with his nation.
His own family shows the other way to take such words:
No wonder Josiah tore his clothes when he read what lay in store for Israel if they abandoned their God and turned to idols. Yet how great the contrast between Josiah's attitude and that of his son Jehoiakim. When Jehoiakim heard the words written in Jeremiah's scroll, he cut it with his penknife and threw it into the fire.
He had the book, yet he still sent men to inquire. It had shown him the verdict, not what to do next:
And now who will interpret this Word for us? How are we to "inquire of the LORD" about what we should do? This Word shows that we have brought His displeasure on ourselves. Only the prophet, the representative of the Spirit of Christ, can interpret it for us. Josiah does not turn to Shaphan the scribe for this, or even to Hilkiah the high priest. He seeks direct contact with the Word itself... In Josiah's time, in these days of revival but of deep weakness, we find a prophetess in Jerusalem. The Spirit of Christ speaks through her to confirm all the words of the book the king had read.
The errand covers all Judah, not Josiah alone. He had every reason to treat the case as closed; the book had already passed sentence:
Josiah might have thought the case hopeless. Nothing, he might have reasoned, could hold back the flood of wrath and judgment about to roll over Jerusalem and the land of Israel. Any move of his must prove useless. The divine purpose was settled, the decree had gone out, and he had only to stand by and let things run their course. But Josiah did not reason like that... He did not give himself up to a destructive fatalism. With a broken spirit and an earnest heart he threw himself on God, confessing his own sins and the sins of his people. Then, sure of his own deliverance, he set himself to seek the deliverance of others too.
Josiah grieved over disobedience that began long before his birth. One writer turns that on the reader:
Josiah felt Israel's grievous disobedience over nine centuries so deeply. How should we feel as we look back over our own history in the nineteen centuries since Pentecost? What a record of departure from the Word of God! Are our hearts tender? Do we know anything of holy trembling at the Word of God?
- Found — Josiah cared for God's house, and that zeal brought the neglected Word back to light.
- Faced — He did not rationalize the warning away, but took the declared wrath as true and about himself.
- Asked — He knew the verdict, yet still sent men to inquire. He wanted God's own word, not a comforting opinion.
- Widened — His plea covered the people as well as himself; assured of his own deliverance, he went on to seek theirs.
- Contrasted — His son heard such words and burned them. A tender heart or a penknife: every reader picks one.