Stories of the Prophets (Before the Exile)Landman, Isaac
Religion
Stories of the Prophets (Before the Exile)
Landman, Isaac
Bible. Prophets
Being questioned, Hilkiah explained that the book was discovered in
one of the corner-stones of the Temple. It had probably been placed
there by King Solomon himself, he explained, at the time when the
Temple was built. But after Solomon's death, during the constant
war between Israel and Judah and the inroads that idolatry had made
in both countries, the real, genuine "Book of the Law" that was to
have been the basis for government, the constitution of both Israel
and Judah, had evidently been lost sight of and forgotten. Now, by
the merest accident, it was found again.
When Shaphan glanced through it he immediately saw what a wonderful
discovery had been made. So he took the book to the king. He reported
to Josiah first, that the money was collected, material paid for and
workmen satisfied; then, that the King's orders regarding the repairs
of the Temple had been faithfully carried out; finally, that Hilkiah
had discovered a book and that he had delivered it to him. The king,
having heard the whole story of the discovery, ordered Shaphan to read
the book to him, aloud.
What Shaphan read amazed Josiah and the few advisers whom he had
called in to listen to the reading. Everything in it seemed to be the
exact opposite of conditions as they existed in Judah. The laws for
sacrifices and ceremonies in the Temple; the statutes regarding the
priesthood in the Temple; the observances of the holidays; the
commandments regarding duties of officers of the law and the
administration of justice; the humane laws between man and man, all
were different from, actually opposed to, the practice of priest,
judge and people in Josiah's entire kingdom.
During the reading of the book Josiah recognized how little real
headway his reforms thus far had made. When he heard Shaphan read:
"The judges shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
Thou shalt not pervert justice; thou shalt not respect
persons; neither shalt thou take a bribe, for a bribe
blindeth the eyes of the wise and perverteth the words of
the righteous. Justice and only justice shalt thou follow,
that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord
thy God giveth thee",
he understood how far from this ideal his people had strayed.
When he heard the great declaration of God's unity,
"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; and
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, with all thy might",
he understood how little he had accomplished throughout his reign, in
attempted suppression of the worship of many gods.
When he heard the scribe read aloud that it is God's will to be
worshiped only in that "place which the Lord your God shall choose out
of all your tribes to put His name there," he determined, more than
ever before, to pull down every shrine and pagan sanctuary and to
center the worship of the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem alone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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