And the king went up into the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of Jehovah.
Josiah had just learned that judgment was coming on Jerusalem, and that he himself would not live to see it. He did not keep the news to himself: he called the whole nation to the temple and read them the book that had humbled him.
Josiah knew he was safe. Still, his mind was on the people around him.
Josiah was a man thoroughly in earnest. He felt the power of truth in his own soul. He could not rest until he had gathered the people around him, so that the light which had shone on him might shine on them too. He did not, he could not, rest in this: he would go to his grave in peace, and his own eyes would not see the evil that was coming on Jerusalem. No, he thought of others. He felt for the people around him. His own escape rested on his true repentance and humbling under the mighty hand of God. So he would use that same Word, which had worked with such power in his own heart, to lead others to the same repentance and humbling.
The verse lists elders, townspeople, priests, prophets and the ordinary crowd. No one was left out.
Being king in Judah and therefore the representative of all the people, Josiah realised his responsibility of involving them all in hearing the Word of God. Beginning with the elders, he called the people to the house of the Lord. So elders, priests, prophets and the common people were gathered. There Josiah himself read all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which would include the five books of Moses.
One detail is easy to skip. The word "prophets" is plural, which raises a question about whom God chose to speak through.
Josiah convened a great national gathering in Jerusalem. Elders, priests, Levites, prophets, and a crowd of people small and great responded. The plural word prophets should be noted. Clearly other men besides Jeremiah were active in the land for God, yet He chose to speak through Huldah! We are quite unable to interpret every detail of the ways of God, but we want to be subject to His perfect wisdom.
Commentators differ on how much the book held. One writer traces it to Deuteronomy in particular.
This book of the covenant included the covenant of Sinai. It also included the one made in the plain of Moab — that is to say, all the words of Deuteronomy. It applied exactly to the people's condition as it now was. God had described that condition beforehand in this book. Deuteronomy spoke above all of obedience. God had redeemed this people from Egypt, and their blessing or cursing now depended on obedience to the Word.
That is why the reading cut so deep. The book was not general religious teaching. It described the exact condition of the people standing there.
Josiah read all the words, not a selection. That had a practical result.
All the words of the law suggests a considerable amount of reading. The meeting was therefore a long one. What a contrast to the short sermons that are barely tolerated today! This is all the more sad, because we now have the complete Word of God. It reveals all His wonderful purposes of grace and glory, and they find their centre in Christ. Why are we satisfied with so little of the spiritual wealth that is within our reach?
The verse sets two things side by side: the house of the Lord, and the book found there. One writer treats them together as the mark of a true revival.
What marks the spiritual revival under Josiah, as we have seen, is the importance of two things. One is God's house on earth, the place where the Lord causes His name to dwell. The other is the book of the covenant. Let us not hesitate to repeat it: in the times in which we live these two things always mark a true revival.
Did the reading change the nation? One writer draws a line between the king's sincerity and the crowd's:
On the young king's part this was all real, no doubt, but one has only to read the earlier part of Jeremiah's prophecy to see how insincere it was with the mass of the people.
- Found. The lost book turned up in the temple. It described the people's condition so exactly that obedience or disobedience decided their blessing or ruin.
- Felt. Josiah could not keep this Word to himself. His own escape from judgment only sharpened his concern for everyone else.
- Shared. The reading reached elders, priests, prophets and ordinary people alike. The king made sure the nation he represented heard it.
- Whole. He read all the words, not a convenient extract, which made for a long meeting and a searching one.
- Tested. Where God's house and God's book hold first place, revival is real. In Josiah it was real; in the crowd, one writer says, it was not.
And the king stood on the dais, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all [his] heart, and with all [his] soul, to establish the words of this covenant that are written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
Josiah has just heard the long-lost book of the law read aloud. Now he gathers the whole nation into the temple to hear it too. Standing in his royal place, he binds himself to obey it — and the people join him. Two questions press on this scene: what did the covenant promise, and why did it fail?
The covenant was not invented on the spot. It renewed terms already written down.
This book of the covenant included the covenant of Sinai. It also included the one made in the plain of Moab — that is, all the words of Deuteronomy. It applied exactly to the people's state as it now was, and God had described that state beforehand in this book. Deuteronomy spoke above all of obedience. God had redeemed this people from Egypt, and the book made their blessing or cursing depend on obedience to the Word.
Josiah did not just read the law to the crowd and tell them to keep it. He stated his own intention to obey it before asking anything of them.
This is excellent. An ounce of example is worth more than a ton of instruction. Joshua, in his final address to Israel, spoke in the same way: "But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15). Paul urged Timothy to "set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12).
The verse puts king and people side by side. What was real at the top was not real all the way down.
On the young king's part this was all real, no doubt. But read the earlier part of Jeremiah's prophecy, and you see how hypocritical it was with most of the people. They had eagerly entered into covenants with the Lord before. The outcome was always the same — breakdown, and a wider departure from God than ever before.
Josiah did not stop at his own promise. He pressed the whole nation to stand with him.
Josiah went beyond stating his own intention; he made everyone present in Jerusalem and Benjamin join in the covenant. The king meant well, but how little he understood how changeable the human heart is! It was the old sad story of Sinai repeated. They had never learned the depths of their own evil, nor the holiness of God. At the burning mountain "all the people answered together and said, 'All that the LORD has spoken we will do'" (Exodus 19:8)… But outward correctness will not do for God. Jeremiah's sad pages tell us how little the people's hearts loved the will of God.
The terms of the covenant itself explain the failure. And the failure served a purpose.
This covenant rested on the law. That is why people broke it as quickly as they broke the covenant of Sinai, and every other covenant made on the same terms. But these covenants give man a chance to learn in depth what the flesh is. That is why the law, as an obligation, is necessary.
Even a covenant the people did not mean from the heart was not wasted. The faithfulness of one man held a whole nation in check for a generation.
Despite that, those who are faithful hold a moral restraint over souls, even over souls that are in fact far from God. In 2 Chronicles 34:33 we see that Josiah made everyone present in Israel serve the LORD their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD, the God of their fathers. It is in this way that all the people here enter into the covenant.
Josiah's whole-hearted promise still has a counterpart today, though not in the form of a covenant.
Josiah is not satisfied with escaping the judgement himself. If there was grace for him there must be grace for others. He made "all the people great and small" hear the word. The king made a covenant to walk after the Lord "with all his heart" and "all his soul," and caused all to stand to it. We do not enter into a covenant with God. But we can have "steadfast purpose" and "remain faithful to the Lord" (Acts 11:23). We trust not in self but in His grace.
- Book first. The covenant renewed the words of Deuteronomy. There God tied blessing or cursing to obedience.
- King first. Josiah bound himself first, then called the nation to follow. Example weighs more than words.
- People after. The people said yes, as at Sinai. They were correct on the outside, with hearts far from God, as Jeremiah shows.
- Law breaks. The people broke this covenant as fast as every earlier one. The law is there so that people learn in depth what the flesh is.
- Grace holds. We make no covenant with God today. We stay faithful to Him with steadfast purpose, trusting His grace and not ourselves.