NOTE.—Josiah was the son of Amon, and began to reign when eight years old. His reign was only nominal, or under a kind of regency, for some years. He came to the throne at a time when great wickedness prevailed throughout. Following the reign of Manasseh, grandfather of Josiah, was that of Amon, who, though he only reigned two years, overturned all the good results of his father’s partial reformation. Such was the condition when young Josiah came to the throne. But in the eighth year of his reign, at the age of sixteen, “he began to seek after the God of his father David.” Four years later, “he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.” He seems to have exercised this authority not only in Judah but also in the territory of the northern kingdom. In the eighteenth year of his reign, Josiah set men to repairing the house of the Lord, and it was during the progress of this work that the events described in the lesson occurred. See lesson chapter, verses 1–8, and 2 Chron. 34:1–13.
8 “And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9 And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. 10 And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. 12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, 13 Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. 14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they communed with her. 15 And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell ye the man that sent you unto me, 16 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read; 17 because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched. 18 But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: As touching the words which thou hast heard, 19 because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me: I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore, behold, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.”
Golden Text.—“Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart.” Ps. 119:2.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) What surprising discovery did the high priest show to the king’s scribe? What did Shaphan do with the book? V. 8. Note 1. (2) What word did he bring to the king? V. 9. (3) What did he show the king? V. 10. (4) How was the king affected by the reading of the book? V. 11. (5) To whom did the king give commandment concerning the matter? V. 12. (6) What was the command? Why did he so command? V. 13. Note 2. (7) To whom did these men go to inquire of the Lord? V. 14. Note 3. (8) Where did this woman live? Same verse. Note 4. (9) What reply did Huldah give? Vs. 15, 16. (10) Why would the Lord bring evil upon the place and people? V. 17. (11) What encouraging word was sent to the king? Vs. 18, 19. (12) What was said to the king about his death? Why was death a special blessing in this instance? What did the men do with the message from the Lord? V. 20.
NOTES.
1. The book.—The record in 2 Chron. 34:14 says, “a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses” (margin, “by the hand of Moses”). This book had, no doubt, been providentially preserved in some secret place through the times of Judah’s apostasy. The finding was not a discovery of something new, but the rescuing of that which had been in existence from the time of Moses. It was probably the book which Moses placed in the side of the ark. See Deut. 31:24–27.
2. “Our fathers have not hearkened.”—The reading of the book of the law was enough to show Josiah that neither the people nor their fathers had been obedient to the law. Verily the book was a witness against them, as Moses had said it should be. And the principle is confirmed by the apostle Paul, when he testifies that “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20. And again he says, “I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Chap. 7:7. This shows us that, altho the law as to typical sacrifices has passed away by limitation, the law of Ten Commandments, commonly called the Decalogue, is still in force. See Matt. 5:7–20; Luke 16:17; Rom. 4:15; 5:13; James 2:10; 1 John 3:4.
3. “Huldah the prophetess.”—This instance should be sufficient to convince the most prejudiced mind that the Lord is not averse to using a woman in the most important position in His work. The high priest was pre-eminently the one to intercede with God for the people; but here we have the high priest himself going to a woman, a prophetess, to inquire of the Lord for the king. And the Lord honored Huldah and her prophetic gift by answering the king through her. We read also of Anna the prophetess, who acknowledged the infant Jesus in the temple, and proclaimed Him in Jerusalem as the Saviour. Again we read, in Acts 21:8, 9, of the four daughters of Philip “which did prophesy.”
4. “The second quarter.”—The common version reads the “college;” Spurrell, Young, and other translations, as the Revised Version. The second quarter was an addition to Jerusalem built by Manasseh. Probably there was a school of the prophets there, with which Huldah was in some way connected.
