Josiah’s Lamentation
The “Book of the Law” thus strangely recovered, is believed by [critics] to have been our present book of Deuteronomy, or perhaps the entire five books of Moses. Just how completely the ancient law had been forgotten, or for how long a period, we do not know; but certainly the doings of most of Judah’s kings, even to the best of them, seem to imply that they knew very little of the strict code of [Deuteronomy].
At any rate the reading of this completed “Book of the Law” seems to have come like a thunderclap upon King Josiah. He was astounded to discover how far he and his people had wandered from the ancient faith. He was stunned and terrified, as he heard the awful curses which God had declared should fall upon the Hebrews if they deserted Him. The king “rent his clothes.” Then he sent in haste for a noted prophetess, Huldah, to inquire of her. All these sins of blasphemy had certainly been committed by his people; must the doom pronounced against them, inevitably fall? And Huldah made sad answer, “Even all the curses that are written in the book.”
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