When King Josiah was twenty-six years old, he called his secretary, Shaphan, to come in for a new assignment.
"I need you to tell the high priest, Hilkiah, to get ready to give the money that was collected by the doorkeepers at the Temple of the Lord to the supervisors that are in charge of the men repairing the Temple, so that they can hand it out to their Hilkiah to have them buy the timber and dressed stones that they need to make the repairs on the Temple. Then tell him that they don't need to keep a record of the money that they spend because they are acting faithfully."
"Yes, sir," Shaphan bowed to the king and hurried out to complete his assignment. Only, when he got to the Temple, Hilkiah had a really big surprise for him.
"Shapan-look at this-look what I found while they were cleaning the Temple!"
Hilkiah was pale and trembling with excitement and fear as he showed Shaphan what he'd found-a dusty old scroll that was faded, torn in various places, and had numerous stains on it.
"What is it?" Shaphan questioned uncertainly. He was starting to get excited and nervous too-it's not everyday that a high priest gets as shaken as Hilkiah was today.
Hilkiah shoved the book into Shaphan's face and gave a cry of frustration, "Look boy, look at it-don't you see-don't you see-It's the Book of the Law-the Book of the Law, boy, that's what this is-it was given to Moses himself, and-and look at the state it's in now!"
Shaphan took the Book and read it. He could hardly believe what was in his hands. He asked in a mystified voice, "May I take it to King Josiah?"
Hilkiah looked relieved, "That's what I was hoping you'd do."
Shaphan run all the way back to the palace and insisted on seeing the king, even though Josiah was in the middle of a meeting. He was finally admitted into the Throne Room, where he bowed low, despite his trembling.
"Shaphan, what's wrong?" Josiah asked. He was anxious because Shaphan had never called him away from a meeting before, "Is there something terrible about to happen?" he asked.
Shaphan swallowed his nerves, "I dearly hope not, your majesty, but if I may-can I begin by saying that I completed the assignment you gave me-your officials have paid out the money and it's in the hands of the supervisors and workers now."
Josiah waved this information aside with an impatient gesture. He was much more keen to find out what had happened to excite his secretary so much, "Well, that's good-but now, tell me why you're shaking so badly and your face is as pale as a ghost-has someone mistreated you?"
"No, no, my king, no-nothing like that at all."
"Then what, Shaphan? Please tell me, so that I can take care of it."
"It is this, your majesty." Shaphan said, as he showed the Book of the Law to Josiah, "Hilkiah found it while they were cleaning the Temple. May I read it to you, my King."
"By all means, yes!"
As Shaphan read, King Josiah himself grew pale. His eyes got bigger and bigger and he started to tremble. When Shaphan was finished, Josiah got up from his throne and tore his robes.
"We have committed a great sin," he cried and wept, "We have disobeyed God by not keeping our promise to do the things He commanded us to do-the things written in this book!"
It took Josiah a few minutes to calm himself down enough to think clearly, but once he did, he called Hilkiah and three other men, Ahikam, Abdon, and Asaiah, to come to him. He told Shaphan to stay in the room as well.
"Now", he said to the five of them, "go and ask the Lord for me and the people and the whole land of Judah about what we should do in response to His words in this Book, for surely God is angry with us for not acting in accordance with what is written here."