Old Testament Sola Scriptura

Why Did Josiah Need the Book?

There's a question that needs to be asked from our text: Why did Josiah need the book? How could we go 21 chapters deep into 2 Kings and nobody else found the book of the law? Nobody else was using it to the extent that Josiah used it. There were other good kings in 2 Kings, but they didn't have the book.

Josiah finds it through Hilkiah the high priest, who came across it in the temple. Apparently, it is easy to hide things in the temple. Earlier, Joash had been hidden there for six years. Deuteronomy 31:26 indicates that the book of the law is supposed to be next to the Ark of the Covenant in the innermost part of the sanctuary.

Deuteronomy 31:26

It was found when Josiah started repairs in the temple, as a previous good king, Joash, had done. The temple needed repair because of cultic worship and idolatrous abuses by bad kings. Ahaz had even destroyed the altar to set up an Assyrian one (2 Kings 16).

Joash didn't finish the repairs or go deep enough into the sanctuary. Josiah, even from age eight, picked up the mantle. What sets Josiah apart is that he embodied all the good previous kings lacked. Prior to Hezekiah, no king removed the high places. Even Hezekiah didn't observe Passover as Josiah did. Kings like Jehu eliminated enemies but held onto sins.

Even Asa's removal of high places was undone by Manasseh. High places—a term related to "grave"—remain a huge issue today. The means of idolatry has changed, but the concept hasn't. We see it in the slaughter of millions of children and sinful activities leading to spiritual and physical death.

By Josiah's time, prophets like Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Huldah were active. Why need the book with Jeremiah? Earlier prophets like Elijah and Elisha, and contemporaries like Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel existed. They didn't have a full canon, but the book likely included Deuteronomy, with its judgments and covenant promises.

Three Reasons Josiah Needed the Book

1. Josiah Was Surrounded by Godly People

Even with impressive resumes—Hilkiah (ancestor of Ezra), Shaphan (ancestor of Gedaliah, who protected Jeremiah), Achbor—something was missing. Israel ebbed and flowed between good and bad kings; the people didn't truly repent during Josiah's reforms.

Josiah, ascending at eight after his wicked father Amon's assassination, needed godly mentors. Yet traditions and godly people weren't enough. They instilled righteousness but couldn't replace the written word for thorough sanctification.

2. Josiah Was Seeking God's Place

God purposes to dwell among his people, so proper worship was vital. Previous kings neglected or defiled the temple. Josiah focused on repairing it and purging the land.

Idolatry relates to "imagination" in Hebrew and Greek. Ezekiel saw elders' hidden idolatries. Idols make worshippers like them—blind, deaf, immobile (Psalms). We are God's temple, individually and corporately (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20).

1 Corinthians 3:16: Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

John Calvin called the heart a factory of idols; Luther feared his own heart more than the Pope. Deuteronomy prescribed the word in the temple's recesses—we need it hidden in our hearts.

3. Josiah Was Saddened by God's People

When Shaphan read the book, Josiah tore his clothes (2 Kings 22:11). He commanded inquiry of the Lord:

2 Kings 22:13: Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.

Verse 2 says Josiah did right, like David, turning neither right nor left—echoing Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 28:13-14: And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God... and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Yet in his eighth year, as a boy, he sought God; in the twelfth, he purged idols (2 Chronicles 34:3-4). The word pierced him—he included himself first in needing mercy, recognizing wrath on "me and the people."

Old Testament Sola Scriptura

Josiah's authority as king wasn't infallible—nor were Hilkiah or others. He needed God's written word, the sole infallible rule for faith and practice. It reveals wrath, obedience, faith, Trinity, Christ's natures, need for him, and eternal security.

Elders and others have authority, but only Scripture is absolute. Without it, we risk confusing our voice with God's, becoming our own authority.

Five Convictions

1. We Cannot Be Satisfied with Our Current Godliness

Josiah exceeded Hezekiah, yet missed wrath's revelation—a means of grace for growth. Don't settle; pursue Christlikeness through Scripture's full counsel.

2. We Must Be Preoccupied with Clearing Idols and Putting in God's Word

Psalm 119:11: I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Scripture illuminates, convicts, and clears idols—our lamp to the feet (Psalm 119).

3. Why Is Josiah's Reaction More Severe Than Ours?

Isaiah 66:2: But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

God looks to the humble who tremble at his word. New Testament echoes fear and trembling (1 Corinthians 2:3; Philippians 2:12-13)—theophobia, awe at God's majesty in judgment and mercy.

4. If Not Reactionary to the Word, Perhaps We Haven't Spent Enough Quality Time in It

Josiah had elements but needed intimate Scripture to see God on every page.

5. Christians Should Run to God at the Hearing of the Word

Salvation heightens fear of wrath (Romans 1). The word reveals constant need—Josiah, Israel, we all need the book.