Josiah Finds the Book of the Law
When a King Hears God's Word and Tears His Robes
2 Kings 22:1–23:30Josiah becomes king of Judah when he is only eight years old. That is younger than most of your friends! The kingdom he inherits is in trouble — the Temple in Jerusalem has been neglected for years, and the people have forgotten the ways of the Lord. But God is working through this young king in ways no one expects.
When Josiah is twenty-six years old, he sends his secretary Shaphan to the Temple to oversee repairs. Workmen are fixing broken walls and rotting wood. Then something extraordinary happens. Hilkiah the high priest is sorting through the Temple when he finds a scroll — old, dusty, and nearly forgotten. It is the Book of the Torah, the Law of God. Somehow, the Word of God has been lost inside God's own house.
Shaphan brings the scroll to King Josiah and reads it aloud. As Josiah listens to every word, something powerful happens inside him. He hears God's commands. He hears the warnings. He understands that Israel has broken the covenant — the sacred agreement God made with His people — over and over again. When Josiah realizes how far the nation has drifted from God, he tears his robes. This is what people in his day do when they feel deep sorrow and repentance. It is not an act — it is genuine grief over sin.
Josiah sends messengers to Huldah the prophetess to ask what God says. She delivers a serious message: because the people have abandoned the Lord, judgment is coming. But because Josiah's heart is tender and he humbled himself before God, the disaster will not come during his lifetime.
Josiah does not sit still. He gathers all the people of Jerusalem together — priests, prophets, and every ordinary person — and reads the Book of the Torah out loud to all of them. Then the king stands by the pillar in the Temple and makes a covenant before the Lord to follow His commands with all his heart and soul. And the people join him.
Josiah goes on to tear down every altar to false gods. He removes the priests of the false idols. He destroys every high place where people had offered wrong worship. Then, for the first time in generations, Israel celebrates the Passover the way God commanded. The text tells us that no king before him turned to the Lord like Josiah — with all his heart, all his soul, and all his strength.
God keeps His covenant promises even when His people forget them. He raises up Josiah to bring the people back, and He makes sure His Word is found again — because His Word never truly disappears.
Christ in This Story
Josiah finds the written Torah and lets it reshape everything — but Jesus is the living Word of God who comes in person to fulfill the covenant completely (John 1:14). Where Josiah tears his robes in grief over Israel's sin, Jesus takes the full weight of that sin upon Himself on the cross, bearing the judgment that Israel deserved. Josiah's covenant renewal at the Temple pillar points forward to the new covenant Jesus seals with His own blood, bringing His people back to God once and for all (Luke 22:20).
Historical Context
The discovery of the 'Book of the Torah' during Josiah's reign (around 621 BC) has fascinated historians for centuries. Many scholars believe this scroll was Deuteronomy, or a substantial portion of it, which contains Moses' covenant speeches and the blessings and curses for obedience and disobedience. The fact that it was found inside the Temple during renovation suggests it may have been hidden or simply buried under years of neglect during the reigns of wicked kings like Manasseh and Amon. The tearing of garments (Hebrew: qara' begadim) was a well-documented mourning and grief ritual throughout the ancient Near East — it was a public, physical sign of inner anguish, not merely a dramatic gesture.
Josiah's reign (640–609 BC) occurred during a window of Assyrian weakness, which gave him unusual political freedom to carry out his religious reforms across both Judah and parts of the former northern kingdom of Israel. The Passover celebration he reinstates (2 Kings 23:21–23) is described as unprecedented since the days of the judges, highlighting just how far the nation's worship had deteriorated. Archaeological discoveries at sites like Megiddo and Arad have confirmed the presence and later destruction of local high places and altars during this general period, lending strong material support to the biblical account of Josiah's reform campaign.
Let's Pray
Heavenly Father, thank You that Your Word is never truly lost — You always make sure Your people can hear it. Help me to have a heart like Josiah, one that is tender and humble when I hear what You say. Thank You that Jesus is the living Word who came to keep the covenant we could never keep on our own. Amen.