2 Kings 22:9
And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.
2 Kings 22:9 belongs to the account of the temple repairs that Josiah ordered to preserve the sacred building. In the course of those repairs Hilkiah found the long-lost manuscript of the law and gave it to Shaphan the learned scribe. Shaphan read the book himself and then brought it to the king with news of its discovery.
This discovery and study of Scripture took place in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign and brought about a reformation. Messages from the prophets concerning the Babylonian captivity had prepared the way for that reform. The recovered law became a source of knowledge and an ally in the work, as Josiah studied its precepts and resolved to follow the light they gave.
When the recovered law was read before the king, he recognized how far Israel had departed from God's statutes. He repented under that conviction and led the people in a covenant to keep the commandments. Repentance and reform in response to the revealed law is the needed course, and through it the threatened judgments were averted for a time.