2 Kings 22:3
And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,
The eighteenth year of Josiah's reign dates the action taken here. By the Lord's direction the king sent Shaphan the scribe to the temple, to the house of the Lord. Shaphan is identified as the royal scribe entrusted with this mission. He was to arrange for the collected silver to be put toward repairing the temple, with the workmen trusted to handle the money faithfully.
That same eighteenth year is the year the long-lost temple copy of the book of the law was discovered and studied, and its discovery helped bring about a reformation. The book had been lost for many years, depriving the people of the instruction of the law during that time. Its recovery renewed attention to the statutes given through Moses. Prophetic messages concerning the Babylonian captivity had prepared the way for this reform. The resulting reformation averted the threatened judgments for a time.