And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying,
Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book.
And Shaphan read it before the king.
And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. 2 Kings 22:10-11
The Book of the Law should have never been lost.
It should have been easy to find and read often.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man:
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:21
Josiah was a most righteous king.
He is honored by God because he did what was right in the sight of the Lord.
Josiah did not know what the Word of God said up until this point.
Hearing this book, allowed him to see the sin of the people.
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin:
but now they have no cloke for their sin. John 15:22
In the Old Testament, not everyone had a copy of the Word of the Lord.
Sometimes they had readings aloud.
The Ten Commandments were the first writings.
The prophets spoke the word of the Lord and the Scribes wrote it down.
And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee,
but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him,
and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes,
which I command thee this day for thy good?
Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God,
the earth also, with all that therein is.
Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them,
and he chose their seed after them,
even you above all people, as it is this day.
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords,
a great God, a mighty, and a terrible,
which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: Deuteronomy 10:12-17
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul,
and bind them for a sign upon your hand,
that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
And ye shall teach them your children,
speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house,
and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down,
and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house,
and upon thy gates:
That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children,
in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them,
as the days of heaven upon the earth. Deuteronomy 11:18-21
Some people do not want to hear the Word of the Lord.
Some people do not want to hear that they have sin.
Some do not want to hear about God.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 2 Timothy 3:16
Honor it, treasure it. Let it lead your life.
The riches of God’s word will become more important to us as we seek Him.