Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 22
The Book of the Law means the first five books in the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. After Moses had written this, he told the Levites (relatives of the priests) to place it by the ark (Deuteronomy 31:24-26). The ark was Israel’s most sacred object, and it (the ark) belonged in the most holy room of the temple, God’s house.
However, for most of the last 70 years, Judah’s kings and people had used the temple for wrong religions. They did not care about the religion of the true God, so they put away many sacred objects.
Even during those years, there were still people in Judah who served the true God loyally. Many of those people would have known God’s law, and some of them may have had copies of it. However, the priests lost the copy that belonged next to the ark. King Josiah himself seemed not to know that it even existed.
This book was in the form of a scroll. People used parchment, a material that they made from the skins of animals, to write on. They rolled up these long sheets of parchment to make a scroll.
It may be that one of the priests hid this book in order to protect it. Manasseh and Amon, the previous kings of Judah, hated both God and his law. However, during the work to repair the temple, probably one of the workmen found it. He recognised its importance, and so he took it to the chief priest, Hilkiah. Hilkiah examined it, and he decided to bring it to Josiah’s attention. So, Hilkiah passed it to Shaphan, one of the most important government officials. It was Shaphan who then read the book to Josiah.
Next part: Josiah hears God's law (2 Kings 22:11)
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