The messages of the prophets regarding the Babylonian captivity did much to prepare the way for a reformation in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign. This reform movement was brought about in a wholly unexpected manner through the discovery of a portion of Holy Scripture that for many years had been misplaced and lost.
(SS 206.1)
Nearly a century before, during the first Passover celebrated by Hezekiah, provision had been made for the public reading of the book of the law. Observance of the statutes recorded in the book of the covenant (a part of Deuteronomy), had made the reign of Hezekiah prosperous. But during Manasseh’s reign the temple copy of the book had become lost.
(SS 206.2)
The long-lost manuscript was found in the temple by Hilkiah, the high priest, while the building was undergoing repairs. He handed the precious volume to Shaphan, a learned scribe, who took it to the king with the story of its discovery.
(SS 206.3)
Josiah was deeply stirred as he heard for the first time the warnings recorded in this ancient manuscript. Never before had he realized how repeatedly Israel had been urged to choose the way of life, that they might become a blessing to all nations. See Deuteronomy 31:6. The book abounded in assurances of God’s willingness to save those who should place their trust fully in Him. As He had wrought in their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, so would He work mightily in placing them at the head of the nations of earth.
(SS 206.4)
As the king heard the inspired words, he recognized, in the picture set before him, conditions similar to those existing in his kingdom. In these prophetic portrayals of departure from God, he was startled to find plain statements that the day of calamity would follow and that there would be no remedy. There could be no mistaking the meaning of the words. And at the close of the volume, in a rehearsal of the events of the future, Moses had declared:
(SS 207.1)
[Israel] forsook God who made him, And scoffed at the Rock of his salvation ... . They sacrificed to demons which were no gods ... . You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you, And you forgot the God who gave you birth. The Lord saw it, and spurned them, Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. And He said, “I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faithfulness.”
(SS 207)
How should one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had given them up?
(SS 207)
Vengeance is Mine, and recompense, For the time when their foot shall slip; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And their doom comes swiftly. Deuteronomy 32:15-20, 30, 35, RSV
(SS 207)
As King Josiah read the prophecies of swift judgment, he trembled for the future. The perversity of Judah had been great; what was to be the outcome of their continued apostasy?
(SS 207.2)
“In the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young,” he had consecrated himself fully to the service of God. At the age of twenty he had removed “the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.”“They brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images ... and the groves ... he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon the altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 34:3-5.
(SS 208.1)
The youthful ruler extended his efforts to the portions of Palestine formerly occupied by the ten tribes of Israel, only a feeble remnant of which now remained. “So did he,” the record reads, “in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali.” Verse 6. Not until he had traversed the length and breadth of this region of ruined homes, and “had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel,” did he return to Jerusalem. Verse 7.
(SS 208.2)
Thus Josiah had endeavored as king to exalt God’s holy law. And now, while Shaphan the scribe was reading to him out of the book of the law, the king discerned in this volume a powerful ally in the work of reform he so much desired to see. He resolved to do all in his power to acquaint his people with its teachings and to lead them, if possible, to reverence and love the law of heaven.
(SS 208.3)
But was it possible to bring about the needed reform? Israel had almost reached the limit of divine forbearance. Overwhelmed with sorrow and dismay, Josiah bowed before God in agony of spirit, seeking pardon for the sins of an impenitent nation.
(SS 208.4)
At that time the prophetess Huldah was living in Jerusalem near the temple. The king determined to inquire of the Lord through this chosen messenger whether by any means within his power he might save erring Judah, now on the verge of ruin.
(SS 208.5)
The respect in which he held the prophetess led him to choose as his messengers to her the first men of the kingdom: “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.” 2 Kings 22:13.
(SS 209.1)
Through Huldah the Lord sent Josiah word that Jerusalem’s ruin could not be averted. The people could not escape their punishment. So long had their senses been deadened by wrongdoing that, if judgment should not come, they would soon return to the same sinful course. “Tell the man that sent you to me,” the prophetess declared, “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: ... My wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.” Verses 15-17.
(SS 209.2)
But because the king had humbled his heart before God, to him was sent the message: “Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled 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. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.” Verses 19, 20.
(SS 209.3)
The king must leave with God the events of the future. But the Lord had not withdrawn opportunity for repentance and reformation, and Josiah determined to do all in his power to bring about decided reforms. He arranged at once for a great convocation, to which were invited the elders, magistrates, and the common people.
(SS 209.4)
To this vast assembly the king himself read “all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord.” 2 Kings 23:2. The royal reader was deeply affected, and he delivered his message with the pathos of a broken heart. His hearers were profoundly moved. The intensity of feeling revealed in the countenance of the king, the solemnity of the message itself, the warning of judgments impending—all these had their effect. Many determined to join the king in seeking forgiveness.
(SS 209.5)
Josiah now proposed that those highest in authority unite with the people in solemnly covenanting before God to institute decided changes. The response was more hearty than the king had dared hope for: “All the people joined in the covenant.” Verse 3, RSV.
(SS 210.1)
So long had they followed the customs of the surrounding nations in bowing down to images that it seemed almost beyond the power of man to remove every trace of these evils. But Josiah persevered in his effort to cleanse the land. See Verses 20, 24.
(SS 210.2)
Centuries before, Jeroboam in bold defiance of God had set up an unconsecrated altar at Bethel. During the dedication of this altar, there had suddenly appeared a man of God from Judea who “cried against the altar,” declaring: “O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.” 1 Kings 13:2.
(SS 210.3)
Three centuries had passed. Josiah the king found himself in Bethel, where stood this ancient altar. The prophecy uttered so many years before was now to be literally fulfilled.
(SS 210.4)
“The altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and he broke in pieces its stones, crushing them to dust ... . And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount; and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things.” 2 Kings 23:15, 16, RSV.
(SS 210.5)
On the southern slopes of Olivet, opposite the beautiful temple of Jehovah on Mount Moriah, were shrines and images placed there by Solomon to please his idolatrous wives. See 1 Kings 11:6-8. For upwards of three centuries the great, misshapen images had stood, mute witness to the apostasy of Israel’s wisest king. These, too, were destroyed by Josiah.
(SS 211.1)
The king sought further to establish the faith of Judah by holding a great Passover in harmony with the provisions made in the book of the law. “For no such passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the kings of Israel or the kings of Judah.” 2 Kings 23:22, RSV. But the zeal of Josiah could not atone for the sins of past generations, nor could the piety displayed by the king’s followers effect a change of heart in many who stubbornly refused to turn from idolatry to worship the true God.
(SS 211.2)
For more than a decade following the Passover, Josiah continued to reign. At thirty-nine he met death in battle with the forces of Egypt. “All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented” for him. 2 Chronicles 35:24, 25.
(SS 211.3)
The time was rapidly approaching when Jerusalem was to be utterly destroyed and the inhabitants of the land carried captive to Babylon, there to learn lessons they had refused to learn under circumstances more favorable.
(SS 211.4)